


Courting Life

by Lady_Knight_97



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Courtesans, Kidnapping, M/M, Mentions of Mpreg/Possible Future Mpreg, Slash, Slavery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:33:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/823830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Knight_97/pseuds/Lady_Knight_97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dark Lord took over Europe and has ruled ever since, being under his rule is all many have ever known including the young "servant" Harry Potter. When Harry's choosing day comes he's in for a quite the shock as Bellatrix Lestrange places him into a life he never expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Choosing

"Alright children," the woman said patronizingly, staring at us with a look of disinterest; we were all standing in a nervous line awaiting her judgement, "Let's get this over with. I would say the hell with it and just divide you in half, send half of you out to wait for a new contract, and the other half have stay here, but I know that if word got back to our Lord that one of you should have been sent elsewhere I would be in for it, and I don't want to be in trouble for something so insignificant in the long run. So, let's do this quickly and we can all move on with our lives," she finished with a smirk and a dangerous look in her dark eyes.

As she began looking over the sheaf of papers with all of our information on them my mind wandered.

My life wasn't ideal, I was a slave - or "servant" as they call us to make themselves look and feel better. Because, honestly, how would is look to have enslaved a good part of the wizarding population of Europe? - but trying to make the best of things and look on the bright side was my natural reflex. I was just that person that was always trying to make things better for everyone else and supposedly not thinking about my own well being as I "recklessly went out of my way for others." Their words, not mine.

Yet, at this point in my life I couldn't seem to find a bright side. I was about to be, for all intents and purposes, sold off and forced to leave my home, family and friends - what was left of them that is; most of my friends were older than myself and I had never been close to my family.

As "servants" twice a year those children throughout the continent who had turned fifteen since the last choosing were lined up at a central area before the harsh, and certifiably insane, Bellatrix Lestrange who would judge where they would "serve their Lord best," be it staying where they were, sold to another master to work in their household, or any other number of things, including the possibility of being singled out to serve as a courtesan to our Lord or one of his elite, the Death Eaters, possibly even his inner circle.

That was what most of us wished for, if not the slim chance of staying where we were. Courtesans were treated the absolute best that "servants" could ever hope for; meals guaranteed three times a day, a safe place to live, fine clothing - courtesans were a thing to flaunt I had been told in the past, I personally knew none and had never seen any to say otherwise. Becoming a courtesan wasn't something one chose to do either, boys and girls were chosen, singled out for their beauty, grace, elegance, and temperament; after being chosen they quickly were separated from the others and trained for about a year before being sold to a master to pleasure them and grace their arm in public. Often those looking for courtesans would go to observe those in training multiple times before finally signing a courtesan to a contract.

Would I want to do that? I often asked myself that. Become someone's pet bedwarmer? It would be better than being a labor slave . . .

"Muggleborns step forward, we'll start with you," Bellatrix announced, breaking me out of my thoughts.

She began going down the long line of muggleborns, most of them being told to go stand on the far side of the room to wait for the wizards who would take them to be sold to new masters, a select few were told they would be staying, and a few singled out for a specific job; all placements other than courtesan depended on a persons level of magic and their specific talents. One muggleborn by the name of Hermione Granger, an incredibly smart girl who, in the short time I had known her had proved her genius multiple times, was chosen to serve and apprentice to a noted historian and librarian at the Ministry.

When Bellatrix had finished placing the muggleborns she then called the half bloods to step up. Taking a deep breath and steeling myself I stepped forward with the rest of the half bloods, a much smaller number than that of the muggleborns.

I was toward the end of the short line, three people from the end and eleven before me, but with the amount of time it took Bellatrix to get to me I felt as if I had been right at the beginning.

Looking down at her list as she moved to stand in front of me she said with a note of recognition in her voice at my name, "Harry Potter, that is your name correct?"

"Yes ma'am," I said softly, keeping my eyes lowered respectfully and my hands behind my back submissively.

Finally she looked up at me with the bland look on her face that had been there since she began, but suddenly her eyes widened in surprise as she looked me over.

"Look at me Potter," she said after a moment, her eyes fixed intently on what she could see of my face. When I had at last gotten up the courage to look at her she pursed her lips, nodded and after looking back at the paper with my information on it said, "Go walk over and stand by the doors."

Um . . . okay?

"Yes ma'am," I said, not allowing my confusion to show or be heard in my voice, stepping back from the line and beginning to walk towards the place she had pointed out.

"Potter!" I froze, standing by the doors, my eyes wide as I turned slowly to look at one of the Dark Lords most devoted and trusted servants. Bellatrix grinned at me in a way that I didn't understand and winked. "Good luck little courtesan," she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to make note that, this story was inspired in part by The Courtesan, written by Drops of Nightshade who I have PM'd with and been assured that continuing to write Courting Life as I have been is perfectly alright. There are some definite differences that will make it fairly obvious that Courting Life is something completely from my own ideas.


	2. Meeting of Malfoyish Proportions

"Good luck little courtesan."

The words seemed to be on repeated in my mind, over and over just those four words said in such a sly and unnerving tone.

When Bellatrix had finished sorting through the other "servants" she led me outside of the town hall where we had come from all around to go through the choosing ceremony and apparated us away, landing us outside of a large, intricate iron gate which stood over a path leading to what I assumed was a large manor which I could just see the lights of in the distance.

As Bellatrix stepped forward the gate opened with only the slightest of creaks, allowing both of us entry to the large property. She took off at a brisk pace. As the lights grew larger and brighter I was able to get a better look at the manor - and it was a manor as I had thought - it was made up of dark grey stone for the most part, from what I could see, with what looked like heavy wooden doors and large windows overlooking the surrounding area.

Bellatrix stopped walking at the top of the steps leading to the heavy wooden front doors and turned to look at me, the flickering of the torches burning to either side of the doors and the candles I could just barely make out through the multitude of windows casting odd shadows on her sharp and angular features. "To be welcomed into training as a courtesan, you must be judged by someone other than myself, preferably a number of people of different age groups if possible, to see whether any interest would be shown in you, that is what we are here for," she said.

I nodded, despite not know where 'here' was, feeling slightly uneasy at the thought of having been singled out and given the slight hope of a supposedly better life only to have it taken away if whoever resided in the manor judged me as unsuitable, or undesirable as a courtesan. Admittedly though, the idea still made me nervous about what it would mean to be a courtesan, however my mind was slowly becoming accustomed to the idea of the position.

"Come then." With that she turned and, with a quick little flick of her wand, the doors opened soundlessly. She led me inside the Entrance Hall. It wasn't very exciting honestly, just a mostly empty room except for the large fireplace I assumed to be for floo travel, a couple of small tables with vases on them, a large silver and green rug that covered a good amount of the stone floor and a handful of closed doors which I guessed led further inside of the manor if they were not cupboards of some kind.

Suddenly a door in the back left corner of the hall opened, a dainty blond woman walking through, her icy blue eyes immediately seizing upon Bellatrix, yet seeming to completely disregard my presence with them in the Hall. The woman quickly moved towards us, Bellatrix moving to meet her.

"Bella," the woman said, her tone revealing her surprise, no matter how hidden it might have been. "What are you doing here? I thought that you had a choosing to do today and would have immediately returned to our Lord or home as soon as it was finished?"

"Cissy," Bellatrix replied with a small, honest smile. "You are right, there was a choosing ceremony today, and it is actually the reason that I am here."

"Oh? What is it that you need sister?"

Sister? The blond woman was Bellatrix's sister, which she had two of technically, but one was disowned and never spoken of really since she married a muggleborn, which would mean that the woman was Narcissa Malfoy and that this was Malfoy Manor.

I was supposed to have the Malfoys decide whether I would become a courtesan or not? One of the top aristocratic families in Europe? Lord Malfoy was the Minister of Magic, second only to our Lord himself for Merlin's sake! I had no chance, to them I was nothing.

"I need the opinions of your son and Lucius, perhaps even yourself if you wish to give it," Bellatrix said. She motioned for me to come forward. "This is Harry Potter, one of the children I was looking over today." She pulled a small stack of parchment out of one of her robe's pockets and handed them to her sister. "Look through these then look the boy over, tell me what your thoughts are. I'm sure it will be obvious once you've taken a good look," she added, putting a hand on my back lightly, as if she was uncomfortable with actually touching me - which she probably was, to guide me forward just a bit more so that I was standing directly in front of Lady Malfoy.

Lady Malfoy frowned at her sister, then at me, but began to look through the parchment anyway. After flipping through the pile for a few minutes, her icy blue eyes moving quickly back and forth as she read, she looked up with a thoughtful frown on her face. Her eyes settled on me, her expression considering as she looked me over from head to toe, forcing me resist the strong urge to squirm uncomfortably.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she spoke. "A courtesan," she said. "Plain and simple, Bella. Just look at him!" She began to walk around me slowly, looking at me from each angle - not a very comfortable experience I could now say from experience. "Even at such a young age he's already beautiful, and from what I've seen of his movement, incredibly graceful as well. From what his papers said he is also very powerful, as well as intelligent. With a bit of touching up and polishing around the edges he would be irresistible. Perfect!" she said.

She stopped in front of me again and rested a soft, dainty hand on my cheek, rubbing her thumb gently over the bone of my jaw. "With a bit of training you could be the most desired being under the Dark Lord's rule," she cooed. "You may even be contracted to someone important. Rabastan is still a bachelor is he not Bella?" she asked her sister suddenly.

"Hmm? Rabastan? Yes, he has yet to find anyone that would 'suit him' as he says," Bellatrix replied. In the corner of my eye I could see her rolling her eyes and inspecting her nails uninterestedly, despite having been watching and listening closely to us when her sister's attention was solely focused on the parchment or myself.

"Perhaps he will contract you," Lady Malfoy continued with a nod to herself. "The Lestrange brothers have been known for their looks and personalities after all, of course I'm not sure whether Bella would take too kindly if Rodolphus were to become taken with you," she added with a smirk.

Bellatrix waved her hand. "I don't care, go ahead and impress him, become contracted to him for all I care," she said. "He's so much younger than I am and we have never had much interest in one another. Better he sleep with you than any willing woman and end up with an illegitimate child by someone other than his wife. If you were to fall pregnant there would of course be no problem, we would simply get a separation and he would, out of a sense of duty of course, bond with you to make the child legitimate. Good outcomes for all around I would say!"

I stared at her in shock, my mouth open and eyes wide, quite obviously blushing the color of a cherry.

Lady Malfoy chucked me under the chin, dragging my attention back to her. "Close your mouth dear," she said. "It's unbecoming for someone of your soon-to-be status. A courtesan must be composed at all times Mr. Potter."

"Yes Lady Malfoy," I said softly, obeying her and closing my mouth.

She nodded. "Good boy. Now, follow me and we can wait for Draco to return from Hogwarts for the weekend and Lucius from the Ministry for the evening. Come."

Lady Malfoy turned and led Bellatrix and I back through the door she had come into the entrance hall through. She led us down a couple of extremely long corridors, passing a number of large, lavish rooms before she went inside a smaller sitting room, comfortably furnished and decorated in dark browns, greens, and copper. "Our private sitting room, please take a seat," Lady Malfoy said, perching herself on a dark leather armchair. Bellatrix immediately dropped onto a green velvet settee and made herself comfortable.

Uncertainly I remained standing near the wall close to the door. I was a servant, or I had been, and never was a servant allowed to sit when their masters or betters were also sitting unless it was a trick to make them slip up and give the master a reason to punish them, or a meal the master was presiding over that evening which the entire staff was required to attend. There was no way that I would offend Lady Malfoy by presuming that I was included in her invitation to sit and relax, in her private sitting room no less.

Lady Malfoy and Bellatrix paid me no mind after seating themselves, they spoke of people and events that obviously had some meaning to them, yet every word just seemed to be gibberish to my ears, although I did recognize a couple of names, places, and annual events such as the upcoming Yule festival, but not much more than what any English-speaking person would recognize.

Of course, their complete ignorance of someone below them was common. It was odd for a servant to be noticed by their masters, or their masters' guests when servants were only there to do what the title implies, serve.

So I stood by the wall in the common, subservient position of a servant with my head bent so my eyes were lowered, my legs together in as weak of a stance as I could have without making a fool of myself, and my hands behind my back.

An hour, or maybe an hour and a half later the fire flared up as the floo was activated, and green flames curled up and around a gorgeous, tall man with white blond hair and incredible silvery grey eyes who stepped through casually, brushing ashes off of his robes as he stood on the rug in front of the fireplace.

Lady Malfoy and Bellatrix looked up at the man, Lady Malfoy quickly getting to her feet and moving to greet him. "Lucius dear, welcome home," she said, softly brushing her lips across his cleanly shaven cheek. "Come sit, we have guests," she went on, leading him over to sit in one of the leather armchairs. As she wet to sit herself she stopped suddenly. "Mr. Potter have you been standing there the entire time?" she asked, her tone barely hiding her surprise.

I looked up at her and inclined my head slightly, thinking immediately that she had wanted me to serve her and Bellatrix while they waited for Lord Malfoy and the Malfoy heir. "Yes my Lady, of course. I would have asked what I could get you, but as I don't know the house I would not have been able to serve you properly," I tried to explain myself.

Lord Malfoy and Bellatrix were looking at me as well as Lady Malfoy now, Bellatrix with a faintly surprised look and Lord Malfoy obviously wondering who I was and if I was a servant why his wife and sister in law were wondering about me.

"Mr. Potter, I said to sit when we came in," Lady Malfoy said, frowning.

"I apologize my Lady," I said, looking at the floor. "I didn't think that you were talking to me when you said that, I thought you were speaking only to Lady Lestrange. I am only a servant after all, from my experience usually when a servant is asked to sit it is a trick for their master to have a reason to punish them," I went on, avoiding looking at them.

"What?" Lady Malfoy breathed. "When has that ever happened? Who would ever treat their servants that way?" she asked looking to her husband who also had a stunned look on his face.

I hesitated, unsure where this was going. "My last master would do it often," I replied. "He would have one of us sit and then immediately turn face and punish us, especially when he had guests and he would then allow the guests to punish us, saying it was an offense to his guests to walk into a room and see his servants sitting."

"What would be done to punish you?" Lord Malfoy asked cautiously, his voice deep and smooth like honey.

"It would depend on whether it was only him, and if he had guests who his guests were." I paused. "If it was only him the punishment would, most of the time just be extra chores for a couple of months, but if it was someone that he especially didn't like then it could the punishments could become fairly painful. When he had guests he would leave the punishment up to his guests and they would usually involve quite a lot of pain, although what was done varied depending on the person of course."

Lord Malfoy frowned. "Could I have an example of a punishment your master has given you please?"

"Well," I said, considering, "he would often use some type of curse or hex that had a similar effect to a muggle whip, more like a cat-o'-nine-tails really. He would have me strip down to my pants and just have at it, using that and others curses and hexes until I had fallen unconscious from pain and blood loss. Then he would just leave me on the floor bleeding and not allow anyone to clean or wrap the cuts after I had woken. Only after weeks when they had gotten infected to the point where I could not leave my bed would he send someone to heal me, then he would expect me back to work the next morning. Of course, he disliked me more than most of the others, so my punishments were usually worse than anyone else's," I added quickly, hoping that Lord Malfoy hadn't been offended. "Is it not normal for servants to be punished that way?" I asked in confusion.

Getting to his feet Lord Malfoy came to stand beside me, his hand gently coming to rest lightly on the small of my back. "No, it's not normal - I'm afraid that I wasn't told who you were, I apologize."

I ducked my head slightly and looked up at him through my eyelashes, not sure why this attractive and important man cared who I was or about my past. "Harry Potter my Lord, a servant I suppose, although after today I'm not exactly sure what my classification would be," I finally managed to get out without stuttering.

"Potter," he repeated thoughtfully. "James Potter's son then, or of relation to him?"

"Yes my Lord, he is my father. Although, my relationship with my parents leaves something greatly to be desired. According to them it is entirely my fault that we were put into the position of being sl-servants, and because I somehow messed up their plans I no longer am considered their son. I did get to keep my name, although a lot of good that has done me," I muttered. "I don't even know what it was that I was meant to do," I added under my breath, shaking my head.

Lord Malfoy raised an eyebrow at me. "Hm, that must be changed then," he said, bringing the hand that had rested on my back previously up to brush over my cheek, similar to what his wife had done nearly two hours before. "Someone of your looks and seeming intelligence should not be used as the figurative punching bag and subject of near constant abuse for the rest of your life."

"My thoughts exactly Lucius," Bellatrix broke in as she stood up, the stack of parchment from earlier with all of my information - although I had no idea what kind of information was on them - in her hands once again and being held out for Lord Malfoy to take and read. "Today was his choosing ceremony, and immediately I knew where he should go, I just needed multiple opinions, as you'll realize once you've read those over and really taken a good look at the boy."

"Is that so?" Lord Malfoy asked, reading through the papers quickly. "Ah. I see where you're going with this Bellatrix, and I suppose now you are in on it as well Narcissa? Don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question." He paused, looking at me before continuing, "Yes, he will make a delightful courtesan, he would probably even be fine without any training at all really from what I've seen of him! I wonder . . ." he trailed off, leaving us all hanging, waiting for him to keep on with that last thought.

My mind was flying at the speed of light. Not need any training? I had gotten multiple agreements on the question of whether I should become a courtesan or not, and from the Minister and his Lady themselves no less! But if I got no training, I would have no idea what I was supposed to do! What were courtesans for besides physical pleasure? I asked myself. Well, I knew that they were used as, to use a muggle saying, "arm candy" at social events and what not, some were in charge of the household duties, and often if the contractor was single they would bond to their courtesan over time in order to produce a legitimate heir, whether the courtesan was male was not a problem, magic was a wondrous thing when you were aloud to use it without fear of being caught and imprisoned or executed immediately.

"Yes," Lord Malfoy breathed.

"What is it Lucius?" Lady Malfoy asked from where she stood beside her sister.

Lord Malfoy shook his head, his long blond hair swinging across his back from where he had tied it back with a black ribbon of what looked like silk. "I would need to ask our Lord and a few others," he finally said. "For now, do not worry over it. Mr. Potter should be sent for training in the mean time, if he turns out the way I believe he will then we will certainly see him back here again with time," he finished with a smile and a look that I immediately recognized in his eyes, making my own widen slightly in surprise.

With a small nod of his head to me, he caught one of my hands which had been fluttering down near my waist and brought it up, brushing his lips lightly across the thin, sensitive skin of my inner wrist. "Yes," he murmured as he released my hand and took a step back. "Yes, we will see you again Mr. Potter, but I don't doubt that you will have changed much by then and you won't return in quite the way that you or anyone really would imagine at the moment."

I blinked owlishly as Lord Malfoy turned in a swish of white blond hair and strode calmly and with a grace that I could only envy as he appeared to glide out of the room.

As I glanced over at the two ladies across the room who stared back at me I knew that my new life as a courtesan had just been sealed with the approval of the Dark Lord's right hand man and Minister himself.

Now I had training to look forward to, training which I knew absolutely nothing about, only very flimsy stories. Oh joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, to answer some questions that I know are going to be going through your minds before you really need to ask:
> 
> 1) Hogwarts is still a school yes, but as it's said students are aloud to return to their homes every weekend if they can arrange transportation, which most can. It is also an elitist school, which in this story means the students are all purebloods. No exceptions.
> 
> 2) Alright, yes, everyone is completely ooc, I know . . . I actually wasn't planning to do that, but then decided why not and went with it. Bellatrix in particular makes even me a bit nervous with how ooc she is, but that's the beauty of fanfiction is it not? If you don't like it I'm sorry, but just warning you now, I'm sticking with everyone as they are, it's kind of fun to make them act completely out of their normal zones
> 
> 3) Harry's history as well as Lily, James, and Dumbledore's actions an whereabouts will be explained later, as well as who Harry's master was


	3. Talking In Transit

It had been two days since I had come to Malfoy manor and since Lord Malfoy had spoken to me. In the time since then Lady Malfoy and Bellatrix had shown me to a room in the guest wing for the rest of the night. The next morning at breakfast I had met the Malfoy heir, a tall boy who I knew to be only a couple of months older than myself who looked like nearly a carbon copy of his father, with a much worse attitude however.

I had sat down at the table of the Malfoy's private dining room with Lady Malfoy and Bellatrix already leisurely eating and had just begun to cautiously fill my plate when Draco had entered the room unnoticed.

"Mother," he said slowly, frozen in place as he stared at me, causing us all to look at him, "who is this . . . this person sitting with you?"

Immediately I felt my face begin to heat up in shame, realizing the sight I must have made sitting there in my worn old clothes that barely fit me in some places, were too short in others and had patched holes almost everywhere. I ducked my head slightly, not wanting anyone to see the glassy look in my eyes.

"Draco, this is Harry Potter," Lady Malfoy replied. I could almost hear the frown in her tone as she spoke. "He is staying with us for the rest of the day, and possibly tonight and tomorrow morning until transportation can be arranged for him and his training proposal accepted."

"Yes, but who is he mother?" he asked.

"He is our guest for the moment Draco, and that is all you need know for the moment," Lady Malfoy said.

Draco was then ordered to sit and eat, which he needless to say was not happy about. For the rest of the meal I uncomfortably picked at my meal while the Malfoy heir continued to glare at me across the table.

After that I didn't see him again for the rest of my stay in the manor, but excused myself from breakfast and as quickly as was polite left the room and nearly ran back to my own and stayed there.

That evening Lady Malfoy came to my room with a muscular, tall man with long brown hair pulled back in a horsetail and casual, yet still fancy clothing behind her. "Harry," she said when I answered her knock on the door and had invited them inside. "This is Rabastan Lestrange, my sister's husband's younger brother. He will be the one taking you to the castle where training of courtesans takes place."

I bowed my head respectfully as I looked up at him through my eyelashes. "A pleasure to meet you my lord," I said.

"And you young Mr. Potter," he replied when I looked back up.

"You must apparate to the castle from outside of the manor's property, so if you wish to leave before dark I would suggest you begin your walk," Lady Malfoy said, leading the way out of the room and back toward the entrance hall, speaking with Lord Lestrange as she walked as I trailed behind.

As we walked I remembered what Lady Malfoy had said the night before about Lord Lestrange being a bachelor and possibly buying my contract one day. The very thought made my face heat up. Lord Lestrange was fairly attractive honestly, but the thought of being with a man at all still made me nervous. I knew that there was a small chance that my contract could be bought by a woman, but the odds were against me. I had only heard once of a woman buying a courtesan, and the reason was only to make her husband, who spent a lot of time away from home for one reason or another, so upset that he would stay home more often. After that the courtesan was recontracted to a man and that was that.

"From here I will leave you." Lady Malfoy's voice broke me out of my thoughts.

When I looked up I realized we stood in the entrance hall with the large front doors opened enough for Lord Lestrange and I to walk through.

Lady Malfoy turned to me and said, "Good luck Mr. Potter. From what I've heard this won't be the last time that we see one another."

I inclined my head toward her and replied, "Thank you my Lady, for everything. I am incredibly grateful for everything you've done for me since I arrived here."

Lord Lestrange put his hand on my back and gave me a gentle push toward the doors. "Come Mr. Potter," he said, his voice a deep rumble. "Let's get on our way so that you can get settled in the castle comfortably tonight after everything has been arranged and decided for your training."

We made our way down the same path that Bellatrix had led me down when I arrived at the manor the night before and, just as Bellatrix had done, when we came to the large iron gate Lord Lestrange flicked his wand and it quietly creaked open allowing us through.

"The castle where your training will be held," Lord Lestrange said softly as we walked through the open gate, "has no name. Well, I'm sure that it did at one point, but now it has no name and as it is used for the training of courtesans is just referred to by most as the castle of the courtesans."

I watched him as he stopped a few steps outside the gate and seemed to wrestle with himself about whether or not to continue talking. Finally he seemed to come to a decision and spoke again.

"I'm sure that you're probably worried about your training and life after you've been contracted, but I'd like to personally tell you in advance that courtesans are some of the best treated men and women in our society, they are treated better than all other servants and even some witches and wizards," he said. "Life for courtesans isn't all about sex either, single contractors often treat their courtesans as spouses, and those courtesans who have married or bonded contractors are often either ignored by their contractors spouse or treated as if they are just another person." He paused. "Courtesans are counted as a source of status for most wizards you see, to have a beautiful young man or woman on your arm legally claimed as theirs is a big deal, although most higher class Death Eaters don't bother as they already have a beautiful spouse on their arm normally."

We stood there in silence for a few moments when he had finished, both of us lost in our thoughts.

"Thank you," I said. "You are the only person to ever explain anything to me and I appreciate that. All I had ever heard of courtesans was that they were contracted to a master and used, for the most part, for sex. Thank you for telling me the reality of my future sir." I smiled up at him shyly.

"You are very welcome," he replied, grinning back. "And just for future reference, when your contract comes up for purchase, don't be surprised if there is quite the battle, beautiful," he added with a wink causing me to blush brightly.

He chuckled at my reaction. "Now," he said, "let's go, shall we?"

* C * L *

Lord Lestrange apparated us directly inside the entrance hall of the castle, or what I assumed to be the castle. The hall, was much the same as the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor, although the decoration was very different - the stone a soft gray, in some places nearly white, and wall hangings of almost every color but very deep, and dark, unlike the Malfoy's completely green and neutral color scheme - and at the back of the hall was a great winding staircase made of some type of dark wood.

"Lord Lestrange."

We both turned our attention to the staircase where a tall woman with slightly graying dark brown hair and who, while seeming to get a bit up there in age, was still fairly attractive. There was no doubt in my mind that at one time she was a courtesan, what had happened to her contractor to get her to being in what Lord Lestrange termed as the "courtesan's castle" I didn't know, but I did know that it wasn't my place to pry.

Lord Lestrange inclined his head to the woman as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs to curtsey to him, the skirts of her dress making a soft shushing noise as she moved. "Madame Callen," he said, "always a pleasure to see you."

"And yourself my Lord," she replied. "Although I certainly wasn't expecting to see you today, and with a young guest at that! I'm assuming that this is the young Mr. Potter that we've be informed of, am I correct?" she asked, focusing her attention on me where I stood slightly behind Lord Lestrange, obviously wanting me to answer her question, and not Lord Lestrange.

"Yes ma'am," I replied after a moment of hesitation. "I am Harry Potter, sorry for the inconvenience that I may have caused you," I added softly.

She waved her hand, brushing off my apology as she walked - or seemingly glided - over to us. "No harm done, Mr. Potter, no harm done at all," she said. "New courtesans can come in at any time, we were just surprised that Ladies Malfoy and Lestrange organized your arrival and stay here." she paused for a moment, looking me over carefully before nodding and smiling kindly, her brown eyes bright and warm. "I am Anastasia Callen, Mr. Potter, and I believe that you will do very well here once you get a feel for things."

"Thank you," I said softly, smiling back at her shyly.

"Well," Lord Lestrange said. "I believe that this is my time to leave you. But don't doubt that I'll be back Mr. Potter, you have potential." With another incline of his head to Madame Callen he added, "You know that I will be back; I'd like to see his progress," and after taking a couple of steps away from us apparated out of the castle.

Madame Callen looked at me with a smile and said, "Now, Mr. Potter, are you ready to begin your training?"

For a moment I hesitated, but then, throwing caution to the wind, nodded confidently to her.

"Then follow me," she said. "We have a few things to sort tonight, but will truly begin your training in the morning."


	4. Not A Phoenix, But A Faerie

Madame Callen led me up the staircase at the back of the entrance hall and through a good number of corridors before stopping to open the door to a tastefully decorated office done in all dark blues and shades of cream, fire burning in the fireplace along the back wall. She led me inside and, taking a seat on one of the armchairs in front of the fire, gestured for me to sit in the other.

"Now, Mr. Potter," she began, folding her hands neatly in her lap, "there are a few things that need to be decided and sorted out before you begin your training. To begin with, your name is Harry, correct? Just Harry?"

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

"Well, something every courtesan must decide when they begin their training is a new, more fitting name for their status. Courtesans must be memorable for more than just their beauty, we must make an impression with our personalities and our intelligence, as well as anything in between or elsewhere," she explained. "So, this is your time to reinvent yourself - everyone does. New name, new place in life, and a chance to show your inner sensuality. Just think on it for a couple of minutes and let me know any ideas, or if you'd like some inspiration."

I began to think it over, knowing that Harry really was a fairly common and unmemorable name. Maybe something similar to Harry though, with Harry as a nickname, something like Harrison, Harold, Harper, or Hadrian. Or maybe just something that started with the letter 'H' like Haden, or Haven - was that too feminine? - Heath, Hector, Helios maybe? Although a name associated with the sun may not work for me.

"I . . . I'm not sure," I said finally. "I kind of wanted to keep my name beginning with 'H' as it is now, but I'm having a hard time coming up with name ideas. Do you have any ideas? If you don't, I can just choose a name beginning with another letter. It's not that big of a deal to change my name entirely," I added.

"Hmm," Madame Callen hummed thoughtfully to herself. "I'm sure that you have thought of the obvious names, but perhaps, you should try to find names that more describe who you are, either appearance or personality if you don't really have a definite idea. Maybe Douglas, or . . . Orpheus. Phoenix maybe, that is a good one. You could have a nickname, Fay maybe, or something along that line. The phoenix is fairly understated and unappreciated these days despite it's beauty, grace and elegance, somewhat like you seem to have been most of your life - or so I've heard. It's rare and a bit showy, but that's good, being noticed is what being a courtesan is all about."

"Phoenix doesn't really seem like a name though," I said uncertainly, "more like a stage name, or maybe a code name for something."

Madame Callen shrugged. "Perhaps."

Hesitantly I admitted, "I did kind of like Fay."

She smiled. "Well, Fay may actually fit you just fine. Often when some is described as fae - different spelling - it means that they are faerie like in appearance or nature, and for all I know you may have some faerie blood from way down the line as you do seem to fit the description. Faeries, if you didn't already know, are often described as ethereal, an other-worldly look to them, very graceful and attractive, usually able to charm and draw in anyone that they meet. Which you seem to have done as far as I've been able to tell." She chuckled a bit before just sitting and smiling at me for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought. "Yes, I think that Fay will suit you, and it will certainly leave an impression - I'm sure of it," she said finally.

I blushed, looking down at my lap partially out of shyness, partial from embarrassment. "Alright," I said, looking back up at her. "Do I keep my last name? Because . . . I really don't want to, to be honest," I admitted, slightly ashamed to have admitted to wanting to reject my family.

Madame Callen shook her head. "No," she said. "You won't need a last name. When you become a courtesan all that matters is your first name. All courtesans have different names, if you had picked a name someone else had already chosen I would have asked you to pick a new name. Although, if you do bond with or marry your contractor you will, of course, take their name."

Alright, that made sense.

I nodded. "So, what else is there that needs to be decided tonight?" I asked.

"I'd like to discuss what exactly you will be learning here. From the way everyone seems to have reacted to you, you probably just could have been contracted immediately and, while it may take you a bit longer than if you had training, you would more than likely have adjusted fine into life. However," she went on, "you are here, and we take pride in the way that the young men and women who leave this castle. Here you will learn proper behavior for your position as a courtesan; you are considered higher than a normal servant after all. You will also learn as much about politics, cooking, and social life as it is, as well as anything else that could be considered important for you to know including playing the host for whenever your contractor has guests." She paused, thinking. "I believe that is all. You will meet the other boys and girls in training in the morning, but just as a warning, there are more girls here in the castle than boys, and all instructors are women."

"Will a share a room with another boy?" I asked. It wouldn't be a big deal if I did, servants - as far as I knew - always shared rooms.

"No," Madame Callen replied. "Everyone gets their own set of rooms, a bedroom, sitting room, dressing room, and bathroom. The castle is certainly large enough for it," she added a touch dryly before getting to her feet, with myself hurrying to follow. "Now, let's go get you settled into your rooms for the night, shall we? We will deal with arranging new clothing for you tomorrow, but there is a nightshirt already in your wardrobe for you to wear for the night and your clothes will be cleaned tonight for you to wear until we can get you some new ones," she said, leading me back out of the room and through another maze of corridors, climbing a couple of other staircases on our way before coming to stop at the end of a long corridor and opening the single door, motioning for me to enter first.

The room I stepped into was obviously the sitting room she had mentioned before. It was decorated in rich, dark shades of violet as well as creams and touches of gold and black. The furniture was all dark wood with cream fabric, and a pair of light colored leather armchair that sat before the fireplace which, when I touched one, was incredibly soft and what I thought people who knew what they were talking about would describe as "buttery." As I looked around and further explored the rooms I discovered that the entire suite of rooms was decorated based on the same color scheme, including the enormous bed with deep violet velvet curtains and a heavy black and gold comforter, and the large bathroom with cream and gold tiling, and a large black bathtub, the towels all a similar shade of violet as was everywhere else.

I wasn't sure what to expect of the dressing room, but when I finally opened the door and stepped inside it was to find that it was nothing more than a great walk-in closet, with a cream settee, vanity, and screen to change behind should someone else be in the room. At the moment it was obviously empty of all clothing and accessories, but I knew that eventually it would accumulate more.

Having explored all of the rooms - and having checked the wardrobe in the bedroom to find that there was in fact a white nightshirt, as well as a violet dressing gown inside - I wandered back out into the sitting room. Madame Callen was sitting before the now cheerily burning fire on one of the leather armchairs, waiting patiently for me. She chuckled when she saw my guilt for having forgotten she was with me and left.

Standing, she made her way over to me. "Not to worry," she said. "Everyone has experienced the same awe when first assigned their rooms. It is a bit of a shock when you've come from sharing a single room with a dozen or so others to having a lavishly designed suite of rooms all to yourself. Believe me, I do remember."

Nothing was said for a few minutes.

I realized that my eyes had gotten heavy and I began to wonder what time it was before, suddenly I was overcome with a huge yawn, bringing my hand up quickly to cover my mouth as I blinked my eyes quickly, trying to keep all of my exhaustion away.

Madame Callen laughed softly. "I believe that," she said, "that is my cue to leave, so that you can get some rest. It has certainly been a long day for you I would think."

Suddenly a bell began tolling the hour somewhere in the distance. It rang either eleven or twelve times, I may have missed one when I was overcome by another yawn. No wonder I was tired, I had been awake for eighteen or nineteen hours!

"Yes, definitely time for you to get some rest," she repeated, nodding as she made her way back across the room to the door leading out into the corridor. As she opened the door to leave she said, "Someone will come to collect you for breakfast in the morning around seven thirty; I'm sure you are still in the routine of waking at around five, so that should be no problem."

"Yes ma'am," I said, nodding. "That will be no problem at all."

She nodded. "Just leave your clothes in the basket and the house elves will clean them for you during the night," she added as a reminder. As she turned to leave, she paused and, turning to look at me over her shoulder added with a smile, "Goodnight Fay," before pulling the door closed behind her.

For a few minutes I stood there, uncertain of what to do next in my exhausted state, but finally, having noticed the lock on the door walked across the door and flipped it. I was sure that no one would try to come in and hurt me, but it eased my mind to know that the door was locked.

I walked back across the room and into the bedroom - my bedroom I reminded myself. Moving to the wardrobe I took out the nightshirt and dressing gown, laying them out across the foot of my bed before pulling off my worn clothing and dropping them into the woven basket beside the wardrobe, between it and the double doors to my dressing room. I pulled on the nightshirt, buttoning it up before moving to the side of the bed and hanging up the dressing gown and climbing underneath the turned back blankets.

The only light in the room was the flickering of the fire from the sitting room, casting the slightest of outlines on the furniture, and the light of the moon shining through the cracks between the curtains over the windows. The last thing I remembered before closing my eyes and allowing the darkness of sleep to take me was the light through one of the windows blacking out - but I was too tired to wonder what it might have been.


	5. Creatures

The next morning I was led to the dinning hall by my guide Apollo - yes seriously, and his appearance certainly matched with his golden blond hair, deep tan and golden brown eyes. He had knocked on my door at seven thirty just as Madame Callen had promised and the moment I opened the door he stuck his hand out to shake and introduced himself, telling me that breakfast lasted from seven to nine thirty every morning except weekends when it went until ten and that if I wanted to meet everyone we had better head down immediately - which was what we did.

As he led me through the corridors and down the staircases to the first floor I learned quite a bit. The first thing being that Apollo loved to talk. He talked about anything and everything as we walked, most of which I didn't understand, but from what I did understand he talked about the same couple of people for the most part: Ace, Barron, and Valentine; his best friends here I guessed. He also talked about some of the lessons and instructors, but I didn't catch names or understand most of what he was saying.

When we made it into the dinning hall, the table at the center was only about a quarter full with most of them looking half asleep still. Apollo led me down the table to a couple of chairs across from where three other boys were sitting, one jerking to stay awake, the second asleep with his face in his plate, and the last wide awake with a book open beside his plate, so engrossed in it that when he went to take his next bite he ended up stabbing himself in the chin with his spoon.

Apollo laughed, pulling one chair out and plopping down onto it, immediately loading up his plate.

I hesitantly pulled the other chair out and sat down.

The boy reading looked up from it in surprise when he noticed someone new sitting across from him. Now that he was looking at me I was finally able to get a good look at him. He had blond hair, nearly white almost the same as the Malfoys', and eyes that were a mix of gray and blue.

"Hello," I said after a few moments of both of us just observing one another.

"Oh," Apollo said with a start, realizing that we hadn't been introduced. He looked at the other boy and said, "Val, this is Fay, he just got in last night. Fay, this is Valentine one of my best friends."

"Nice to meet you," Valentine said. "Call me Val though, everyone seems to and it's a lot less of a mouthful," he added with a wry grin.

I laughed. "Alright, nice to meet you Val," I replied.

Apollo gestured to the other two boys. The boy to Val's left was the one asleep in his food, he had dark hair - black or dark brown, I really couldn't tell though - and that's about all I could really see. "This one," Apollo said, "is Barron. He likes his sleep, but we make him get up early every morning. Of course then he just falls asleep down here, but at least we can keep and eye on him." He motioned toward the boy who was trying to stay awake, he had hair so black that it was nearly blue where the light hit it and from what I could tell, dark, almost midnight blue eyes. "This is Ace. He's a bit of a night owl, but he can at least stay partially awake in the morning most of the time."

Ace perked up at the sound of his name, looking around with owlish eyes. "What?" He focused on me a minute later and tilted his head to the side. "Who are you? I don't remember seeing you here before."

I shook my head, smiling a bit shyly. "No, you wouldn't have," I said. "I just got here last night and it was fairly late. I'm Fay, by the way," I added.

"Oh. Hey Fay, I'm Ace," he said, grinning. "Didn't mean to rhyme there, sorry."

"It's fine," I said, laughing.

After we had been introduced Val and Apollo began talking, about what I couldn't tell. I began to relax and started to fill my plate and eat, while Barron continued to sleep on, completely oblivious to the world.

* C * L *

Just before nine thirty we were herded out of the dining hall and divided off into groups before leaving. An older woman, although a couple of years younger than Madame Callen was the woman in charge over my group. Ace was in my group and stuck close to me, saying that the woman was Madame Grey. She was, according to Ace, the woman in charge of informing us of what would be expected of us, the honing of our skills would be done by Madame Kane, a woman he pointed out to me in passing as a tall blond woman, Madame Grey was strictly an informational instructor.

We were led into a room on the second floor where an arc of wooden chairs with a thin stretch of padding were arranged. She told us to sit wherever as long as it was in a chair, then stood in front of us waiting for us to settle.

"Alright ladies, and gentlemen," she began. "For those who don't already know, we have a new young man with us beginning his training today. What is your name?" she asked, looking at me and causing everyone else to turn their attention to me as well.

"Fay, ma'am," I replied

"Welcome Fay," she said kindly. "I'm sure you will enjoy your time here."

All of the others nodded their agreement.

"Now, we need to get you up to speed with what everyone else has learned already, so why don't you tell us what you know of courtesans," Madame Grey said.

I nodded. "I don't know much," I admitted. "And what I thought I knew, has turned out to be entirely wrong from what I've seen, and been told since arriving here. All that I really know is what Madame Callen explained to me last night, that I'll go through my training and become contracted to someone."

Madame Grey nodded. "That is about as much as most know when they arrive here and begin their training." She looked around at the others and then said, "Why don't you all tell Fay something that you know to be important that you've learned so far? We can go one at a time until no one can think of anything else. Aurora, you may start please," she added, speaking to the girl sitting at the far left end of the arc.

"Yes ma'am," she said. "I think that I'd like to begin by saying that a common misconception had by beginning courtesans is that we must be contracted to a person. While we must have a contract, it does not necessarily have to be to a single person. Often there will be two possible contractors who wish to have the same courtesan, from there a new contract is drawn up so that the courtesan's time is split between them. A courtesan can be contracted to as many people as are willing, although more than two - or maybe three - is rare."

"Thank you Aurora, that was very good," Madame Grey said when she had finished. "You're next Sapphire."

Sapphire was the girl beside Aurora, she had straight dark brown hair and, shockingly enough, bright sapphire blue eyes. "To go along with what Aurora said," she began, "when a courtesan has more than one master, is one is married and one is not, if the contractor who is not married decides to bond with the courtesan, the contract with the other is dissolved as the courtesan has then become a spouse and therefore not to be shared with others."

Madame Grey nodded. "Rose, you next."

Rose was a petite girl with large brown eyes, caramel skin, and brown hair done up in pin curls. "More often than not with a contractor who is a bachelor, courtesans will play as host or hostess when guests are had," she said. "When the guests arrive, the courtesan must remain in the room with them and your contractor until you are either dismissed, or asked by your contractor to do something which specifically involves you leaving the room."

It went on from there with the other girls and the few boys sitting with Ace and I. Most of the things said were fairly commonsense, that is, until it came time for Ace to speak.

"Alright Ace, tell us something that hasn't been said yet that is important for Fay, as well as everyone, to know," Madame Grey said.

"Well," he said. "Something that I believe is incredibly important that has yet to be mentioned yet, is that most courtesans have some type of creature blood from somewhere down the line. For example, Valentine is quarter Veela, I personally am half elf. I'm sure if asked or given a test almost every one of us could discover some type of creature blood, perhaps even blood from multiple creatures. It wouldn't surprise me personally if Fay is a faerie for example with the way he looks and moves, and the way that he seems to just draw people in."

"Hm," Madame Grey hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps we could do a test to find any who are part creature among us. Does anyone here know if they are partially one creature or another?" she asked, looking around the arc.

"I am part Nymph," Rose said. "An eighth Nymph I believe."

"Interesting, very interesting," Madame Grey said.

"Do you think that if we discover creature blood we would be more or less sought after?" I asked curiously. "I'm sure it would depend on the creature of course, but just having a creature of any kind in our history . . . ."

Ace nodded. "I'm sure that any creatures considered to be malevolent or malicious in your blood would cause you to be less sought after. After all, people want docile, beautiful, yet intelligent courtesans - not courtesans with something demonic in their past," he said.

"Yes, I quite agree Ace," Madame Grey said.

For a few more minutes ideas and opinions were thrown around about the pros and cons of discovering creature ancestry, but in the end everyone decided that it would be better knowing than not knowing. Especially if it was a closer relation than we thought and we ended up going through some type of inheritance while contracted.

"Now that we have that decided, and we are all settled down once again, does anyone have anything that they would like to add that is important for Fay to know?" Madame Grey asked, looking around once again.

"Well, I may have something," the boy on my other side from Ace said.

"Yes Beau?"

"No one has mentioned it yet, but I think that it would be important for Fay to know that if his contractor needs an heir, he will more than likely bond with you and after a courtesan has been bound you can become pregnant - even boys," he said. "Before a marriage, or bonding there is a spell put on the courtesan at the contracting that prevents any and all pregnancy, even if you are given fertility potions or anything along those lines, you will not become pregnant unless bound or married."

I stared at him for a moment in shock. I felt as if I had heard something similar in the last few days, but having it explained like that by another courtesan who knew that it could happen was different in my mind than being told by one of the Malfoys or Madame Callen - whoever had mentioned it before.

Beau looked at me and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry," he said. "You will know when you become pregnant, and if you've bonded and your contractor has mentioned it then it will be a bit of a given."

Slowly I nodded, forcing myself to relax.

"Is that all we can think of?" Madame Grey asked. When everyone nodded she sighed and said, "I think that will be all for today. Try to think of other important things for when we meet again!" she added. "Now go, it's time for lunch."

Within moments we were all out of the room and walking back to the dining hall for lunch, talking, for the most part, about the possibilities of creature ancestry in each of us.

Ace led me down the table to about the same place we had sat for breakfast and immediately sat down, filling his plate and beginning to eat while I had just sat down. I shook my head as I began to load my own plate, although not quite as much as Ace.

About ten minutes after Ace and I had sat down and begun eating Barron and Val wandered in and sat across from us, nodding at us as they sat and immediately began eating, Val pulling a book out to read as he did so. A few minutes later Apollo finally appeared and sat on my other side.

"So, how was your first lesson as a courtesan?" he asked, grinning crookedly at me.

"Great," I replied, rolling my eyes. "I learned that I can have multiple contractors, get pregnant, and might have creature blood. How was your lesson?"

"Wow," he said, raising an eyebrow at me. "I had behavior and hosting with Madame Bates, not as exciting I'm guessing."

I snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I guess not." After a minute of silence I spoke again, "So, do we stay in the same group all day, or how do our lessons work?"

"Well," Val said, looking up from his book, "for the most part, you're divided up randomly. You were put with Ace, so now you'll be stuck with him for almost all of your lessons. Some people are singled out for one reason or another and put with a different group for a lesson or two, but most of the time you'll just stay in the same group."

I nodded. "Alright." I paused before looking over at Ace who had slowed his one-man-mission to eat all the food on the table to just a quarter of it. "So Ace, what do we have next?"

He wrinkled his nose as he looked up. "Behavior and hosting," he replied. "Lucky us. At least the class is mostly just memorizing what to do in different situations, and not a lot of active work. Although some of the things we've learned in that lesson I really don't think we'd ever have need of. I mean, the odds of us meeting the Minister and his family, or the Dark Lord are slim and none after all. The odds of even being contracted to a Death Eater are nearly non existent! Most of them are satisfied with their wives, or with being single so we'll more than likely just be contracted to someone holding onto the coattail of someone important and we'll need the barest minimum of knowledge on how to treat them."

"I don't know," I said. "From what I saw the Minister and his wife don't seem to be the happy couple you're imagining. Lady Lestrange also mentioned that she wouldn't mind if her husband contracted a courtesan. Her husband's brother also seemed to be interested in a courtesan," I added.

They all stared at me.

"And when exactly did you meet and talk to them?" Apollo asked.

"Lady Lestrange brought me from my choosing to Malfoy Manor where Lady and Lord Malfoy live and had them give their opinions on whether or not I should train to become a courtesan. Then last night the younger Lord Lestrange was the one to bring me here to the castle."

"Well what do you know boys," Apollo said with a grin. "It looks like we have a much desired young edition. With the way people who already have interest come to check progress, maybe we'll be noticed as well. We can take some of the spotlight off of you Fay," he added.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know about that, but whatever suits you," I said. "We can worry about all of that later, but for now, I'd just like to eat and go to my lessons for the day. Once day one is finished then we can talk about your crazy plans."

"Sure, sure," Apollo said. You could practically see the gears in his head turning.

What had I just gotten myself into admitting to them that I had already met Lords Malfoy and Lestrange? It wasn't really a question of were they interested in my mind, but would they act on their interest, or sit back and mention their interest to others and not bother?

But for the moment it didn't matter what happened where contractors were involved, all that mattered was getting through lessons and becoming a good - no great courtesan. Discovering whether I had any creature blood was also something I wanted to know, but until a test could be found or developed to check I could only wait. Unless I came into an inheritance of some kind, then of course it would most likely become obvious.


	6. Explaining Our Past

The days flew by fairly quickly after that, soon turning to weeks and then a month as my life quickly became based along a basic routine. I woke up, chose my clothes for the day from the new wardrobe that Madame Callen had promised me and had made by a cheerful, friendly older witch known as Madame Malkin - I did learn how to coordinate, with a bit of help from Apollo, Val, Ace, and Barron eventually - and went through meals and lessons.

My favorite lessons actually turned out to be Madame Grey's purely informational lessons, which, oddly enough, fascinated me, and it was during one of her lessons that things began to get interesting.

I had been told by Ace that every few weeks or so, sometimes a motn or maybe two, potential contractors or wealthy high-class wizards who simply had nothing better to do, were allowed to visit the castle to observe the training of future courtesans and possibly to single one out for future contracting. It was on one of those days, almost two months since I had begun my training, the first such day since I had arrived at the castle, and we had all been told to go about our day as normal and if approached by a possible interested contractor to keep calm and use what we had been learning when speaking, this was what we were being trained for after all.

Madame Grey was teaching my first lesson that day, just as she had on my first day. Only a couple of minutes into the lesson the door to the room was opened by Madame Callen, causing Madame Grey to stop talking and all of us to turn in our seats to look at the door.

"Madame Grey, there are a few visitors here who wish to sit in on your lesson this morning if it's no trouble," Madame Callen said, not fooling any of us by making it sound as though she was making a request, those men would come in no matter what Madame Grey said.

"Of course," Madame Grey said, smiling as Madame Callen moved aside for the men waiting behind her to file inside.

I glanced away from the men walking in to look over at Madame Grey and Madame Callen who stood at the front side of the room talking quietly. When they stopped talking I looked away quickly, not wanting them to assume that I had been eavesdropping - which I hadn't of course, seeing as I couldn't hear a thing from my seat - if they caught me watching them.

The men had finished filing inside and were now settling into the chairs lined up along the walls, all of them watching us either with a look of curiosity on their faces or focus and contemplation. I supposed that it depended on how serious they were about finding a courtesan. As I came to the end of the row of chairs my eyes widened in surprise, meeting a familiar pair of brown eyes.

Lord Lestrange grinned and nodded at me when he realized that I was returning his gaze. He then turned to the man sitting on his left, getting the other man's attention and nodding in my direction as he spoke quietly with the other man while keeping his eyes fixed on me. My attention shifted to the man at Lord Lestrange's side and, with a start, I realized that he must be Lord Lestrange's older brother and Bellatrix's husband, Rodolphus - the true Lord of house Lestrange; he and Rabastan looked too much alike to think that they were anything other than brothers or very close relations, and I knew that they and Bellatrix were the only remaining members of the Lestrange family so they could only be brothers.

Rodolphus - I couldn't very well refer to them both as 'Lord Lestrange' with both of them being Lord Lestranges could I? And being only in my mind it didn't really matter, did it? - looked at me with eyes much the same as his brother's, although his were closer in color to a golden brown or honey shade than Rabastan's slightly darker brown eyes, their hair was the exact same shade of brown however and their facial shapes and body builds were nearly the same, with Rodolphus looking to be just the slightest bit taller if the two were to stand side by side.

The brothers spoke quietly to one another until Madame Grey cleared her throat, capturing everyone's attention.

"Well, now that everyone is settled once again, I believe that we should get on with today's lesson," she said calmly, smiling at the men around the room and seeming to wait a couple of moments for any kind of reply. "Can anyone tell us where we had left off last lesson?" she asked us.

When no one spoke up, everyone just looking around uncertainly at the others, I looked at Madame Grey and raised my hand slowly.

She nodded. "Yes, Fay?"

"You told us at the end of our last lesson that we would discuss how the role of servants, and specifically courtesans, began with the beginning of the Dark Lord's rule," I answered as calmly as I could.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "Now, do any of you know anything about the beginning of the Dark Lord's reign, or the reasons behind servitude in our society?" When someone raised their hand she nodded for them to speak.

"The Dark Lord's rule began with the defeat of Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, who at time were viewed as 'light' wizards and witches by the public while the Dark Lord and his followers were viewed as 'dark' for their use of the 'dark arts', which in reality are no different than what at the time were viewed as light spells, the only difference being that the 'dark arts' were used, supposedly, for evil purposes," Beau said from the opposite end of the arc of seats from me. "Dumbledore spread rumors about the Dark Lord to turn the public against him, which, being such a powerful and influential figure as he was, was very simple in the beginning. However, when certain secrets of Dumbledore's began to arise, more and more people began to turn their favor to the Dark Lord, whose title of 'Dark Lord' was received around this time because of Dumbledore's lies and the publics belief. It stuck and has been used since at least to my knowledge."

"Very good Beau," Madame Grey said. "Anyone else?"

I raised my hand again, knowing the story of Dumbledore's downfall very well unfortunately.

"Yes?"

"An act of what Dumbledore and his closest followers viewed as betrayal was what brought about Dumbledore's death and the true beginning of the Dark Lord's reign," I said. "A plot had been hatched by Dumbledore and a select few members of the Order, to fake the existence of a prophecy which would predict the Dark Lord's downfall at the hand of what was at the time a baby, a boy only a year old; the baby's parents being the largest supporters of the plan at the time. When close friend's of the boy's parents discovered the truth behind the plot they betrayed Dumbledore and went to the Dark Lord with the truth. They told the Dark Lord everything they knew and, with the information they gave, within a few weeks Dumbledore was dead, and the Dark Lord began his reign of the wizarding world, quickly appointing Lucius Malfoy as the Minister of Magic and establishing the system of servitude. Those who became servants were, originally members of the Order or supporters of it, then they became muggleborns and finally halfbloods. Although, exceptions _were_ made for certain pureblooded families who supported or were part of the Order and also had children. Some older children were given the choice of abandoning their families, others were taken, typically the younger children although it wasn't unheard of for older children of dying lines."

There was a few moments of silence as everyone considered what I'd said before anyone spoke again.

"How do you know all of that?" one of the men asked, leaning forward in his chair interestedly.

I smiled sadly and a bit bitterly. "My parents were, unfortunately, part of the Order of the Phoenix," I admitted. "They were among those that Dumbledore concocted his plan with and they offered for him to use me as the child of the fake prophecy, which he would have done. When my godfathers Sirius Black and Remus Lupin went to the Dark Lord, and thus destroyed their plans, they put the blame on me, saying that if it hadn't been for me then they never would have gone to the Dark Lord and Dumbledore would have eventually defeated the Dark Lord. It never made much sense to me with that explanation, because without me their plan wouldn't have quite worked anyway, but it was what they thought nonetheless and they never let me forget that they blamed all of their misfortunes on me. They were happy to see me leave the day of my choosing."

"You're right," the man agreed, nodding, "that doesn't make much sense at all."

After another short pause Madame Grey spoke up once again. "Fay, I hate to bring it up, but since you obviously were very close to what happened at the beginning of the Dark Lord's reign, would you mind explaining what happened as you know it?"

"That's fine Madame Grey, I don't mind." I paused, wracking my brain to remember things as they happened. "When my godfathers went to the Dark Lord they set up a plan to bring Dumbledore out of hiding and into view of the public so his fall from power - at the time they apparently didn't plan for his death. I don't know specifically what happened, but I know that somehow they lured him into the Ministry, which was completely under the Dark Lord's power by that time, and, in front of everyone revealed the truth behind Dumbledore's past. There had been rumors that the wonderful, kind side of him was just an act, but with the help of people who really _knew_ him, it was no difficulty to shed light on the truth. From what I've been told, Dumbledore apparently murdered his young sister Arianna. He also was a key player in the rise of Grindelwald when he was younger, being very close friends as children and young adults, before betraying his friend and sending away to be locked up forever, being free to go himself. There were other secrets, such as blackmailing his brother Aberforth to keep his sister's death quiet, as well as a number of others, but I personally don't feel it necessary to tell of them.

"Dumbledore was enraged at having his secrets, including his treatment of the young Tom Riddle, now known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, revealed to all and immediately attacked the Dark Lord, his followers who were there at the time, my godfathers and anyone else in the area in a fit of rage," I continued. "He couldn't be restrained and the only thing that could be done was to kill him before he could get away and create even more havoc outside the Ministry. When it was all over no one really knew for sure who had been the one to kill Albus Dumbledore, it could have been anyone, but with his death the Dark Lord was unopposed but for the few members left free of the Order. Those few, which included my parents, were quickly caught and brought into custody and either sent to Azkaban or forced into servitude.

"As for the topic of servitude," I went on, figuring that while the topic was mentioned I might as well tell what I knew, "I will admit that I'm not the best person to explain, but what I know from growing up is that the lowest you can get as a servant is where most start out and stay throughout the rest of their lives, as basic servants assigned to a household to do basic everyday tasks such as cooking and cleaning. The next highest servants can go is body servant, assigned to serve one persons specific needs, typically a wealthy witch or wizard, or a shop owner. Next is those particularly intelligent servants who serve as tutors to young witches and wizards who are being prepared to enter Hogwarts or another school. These servants can also serve as nannies for younger children of those able to afford a servant. Finally, at the top of the servile ladder are the courtesans, the most sought after of servants for their beauty, grace, sophistication, and intelligence - as well as sexual appeal of course," I added with a small grin. "Courtesans are also the smallest group of servants in number because they must fit a number of specific criteria. Because they are so sought after they are the best treated of all servants in all manners," I finished.

"Thank you Fay," Madame Grey thanked me with a smile. "Also great job with using what you have learned since arriving in your explanation, it was very well stated."

I inclined my head in thanks to her compliment before sitting back in my chair as I listened to Madame Grey continue asking various others what they knew about both the Dark Lord's rise to power and the history or servitude as well as the different 'ranks' as it were. Not too much was added by the others that I didn't already know other than a few facts about courtesans and the other 'ranks' that I was unaware of, but didn't actually find important to know.

As I listened and paid attention with one half of my mind, I glanced over along the walls at the men seated there again, finding that once again the Lestrange brothers were watching me - and fairly intensely at that - as they murmured back and forth too softly for anyone to really pay them much attention it seemed. When Rabastan caught me watching them again he grinned and winked causing me to startle and turn back to Madame Grey and tune back into the conversation fully once more, only for her to just dismiss us for lunch when I did.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as an afterthought as we all were getting to our feet to leave. "I almost forgot to mention, that I managed to find a way of discovering whether you have some type of creature in your family! We will talk about that and test you next lesson - now you may go!"

Thank Merlin! Everyone kept going on and on about whether they would have some kind of creature inheritance, or if someone else did and I was ready to find out once and for all. Maybe I was a faerie, maybe not.

As I followed the others out of the room, toward the end of the group, someone grabbed my arm pulling me backward and to the side as well as out of the rush of people once I was out in the corridor. I wasn't surprised to find that the Lestrange brothers were the ones who had held me back. They waited for everyone to leave the corridor on the way to the dinning hall - the other courtesans in training - or another lesson - the other men/possible contractors - before speaking.

"So, young Mr. Potter," Rabastan said with a smile. "Or should I say 'Fay' now?"

"Fay would be preferable if it is all the same to you my Lord," I replied, inclining my head. "I prefer to have my past and everything to do with my parents well behind me now that I am here and training."

"Fair enough. Fay it is," he said. "Now, the reason that we held you back, was that, first and foremost I wished to introduce my elder brother Rodolphus." He motioned to Rodolphus with a careless movement of his hand.

"A pleasure sir." I bowed - properly - just as I been taught to when meeting the Lord of a house.

"The pleasure is mine young Fay, I have heard quite a bit about you, both from my brother, and my wife Bellatrix as well as Lord Malfoy and his wife," Rodolphus responded. "After seeing you now and hearing you speak during your lesson I admit to finding myself intrigued, and I can say with confidence my brother shares those feelings."

"Oh, I -"

"Yes, I find myself intrigued as well," Rabastan agreed. "Although I must say meeting you the first time also had me intrigued. I do not know too much about you Fay, however you seem to have a draw that I have never before felt."

"I agree, I have never felt a pull to someone as I have to you," Rodolphus said, nodding to his brother. "Perhaps we will have the chance to know you better in the year ahead of us, and we will most certainly be looking for your contract to come up for negotiations."

Rabastan nodded. "We try to never feud over something - or in this case someone - that we both desire, therefore we _will_ be buying your contract together, to share you as odd as it may seem."

"And we will be the ones to purchase your contract," Rodolphus assured me as I stared wide-eyed from one brother to the other as they bounced their speech back and forth. "We have no true competition as Lord Malfoy has assured us that he, while intrigued as we are, is content with his wife and son. The only person who could stand as competition now would be the Dark Lord himself and we know that he would not purchase a courtesan for any reason other than to keep them out of the hands of someone who has earned disfavor. Of course he would then put the contract back up for repurchase," he added. Then with a slightly wolfish, yet not all together unpleasant, grin added, "So rest assured little Fay, you will be ours come the fall, do not doubt it."

On that note the brothers turned and walked down the corridor, in the opposite direction of the other men however, in the direction of the entrance hall. Before they turned the corner Rabastan looked over his shoulder and winked, grinning, before they were blocked from my sight.

_Oh Merlin_ , I thought as I released the breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding and sagged against the wall of the corridor. My heart was racing as I replayed the brothers' words and realized with a start that I welcomed their attention and the thought of being shared by two gorgeous, powerful, tall and well-built men thrilled me and I couldn't wait for the fall to come and the brothers to buy my contract, to make me theirs as odd as it sounded.

It took a few minutes for me to gather myself enough to stand up without the support of the wall and to straighten my clothes before slowly walking to the dinning hall and sitting at the table.

Val looked up from his book with a curious look in his eyes. "Hey Fay, why are you so late?" he asked.

I looked at him in silence for a moment, not sure what to say to explain. "I think that I was just claimed," I said finally.


	7. Interlude: Musings

"The woman that was running Fay's lesson today - her name has escaped me - what was it that she was saying about their next lesson? Something about testing?" Rabastan asked his brother with slight confusion, as they sat in Rodolphus' study in Lestrange Manor after apparating from the entrance hall of the castle directly after speaking to Fay - he was the only reason that they had gone after all.

Rodolphus paused for a moment before answering as he remembered. "She mentioned discovering a way to test for creature inheritances and ancestry I believe," he finally replied thoughtfully. "Also, that they would discuss it in more detail the next lesson. I cannot remember exactly whether she mentioned performing the testing during the next lesson however."

"I wonder how they came to wanting to discover whether they have creature blood," Rabastan said, his tone revealing his partially hidden curiosity. "Although, I have heard it rumored that many courtesans have some type of creature blood, almost always being some type of creature with great beauty, grace, and thrall - veela and vampires are common. Whether the rumors are true however, can of course be put up for debate, but if they are testing themselves to find whether they have creature blood or not, there must be _some_ truth to it."

"It certainly wouldn't surprise me should we discover Fay to have some type of creature in his ancestry somewhere down the line. Perhaps Elvin blood; it would fit despite his ears not having the tell tale point . . . or do they? I did not get a good look - nor was I particularly paying attention to his ears - his hair is long however perhaps they were covered, purposely or no . . . ."

Rabastan nodded slowly. "I did not notice if they were pointed either," he admitted. "Although if he does not have Elvin blood, what other types of creatures would fit him? Faerie maybe; he does have that draw that faeries are said to have. Or possibly a pixie? If he were female I would suggest the possibility of his being partial nymph, however everyone knows that nymphs are strictly female beings . . . although if a nymph had mated with a wizard somewhere down the line it could be possible I suppose," he said, rambling slightly before trailing off into thought.

"Yes, I've heard that males can carry the traits for nymph heritage, yet never fully come into the inheritance while females, when everything is correct, can come into their inheritance as full-fledged nymphs and join their sisters, leaving the wizarding world behind," Rodolphus said. "I don't see that as likely to be honest. Fay has a certain something about him, something that makes him seem just _so_ irresistible, that makes me ache for the day that we can make him ours at last - I want him to be _ours'_ brother. It's got to be something, and with the pull that he's ensnared the two of us in, my bets are on either Elvin or Fae ancestry, he's too beautiful and captivating to be anything else," he added confidently as he sat back in his chair and taking a sip from one of the glasses that had been left by a servant on the table between the two when they had settled in the room.

"Well," Rabastan said, "we could do one of two things here. The first choice is, we can wait for Fay to be tested during his next lesson with Madame . . . Madame - Grey! That was her name! Or, we could have someone look into the Potter family's history - as well as his mother's just to be certain - to find for ourselves whether he has any type of creature ancestry or not and what it is, as well as when it came into the Potter line. What are your thoughts brother?"

"Honestly?" Rodolphus asked, receiving a nod in reply. "I would like to put someone onto looking into the Potter family and their history, as far back as it takes - be it with James, or his twenty-times great grandfather. There were a number of things that puzzled me to begin with about them, but now that I have reason I'd like to look into the family." He paused for a moment before cautiously continuing speaking a bit slower than he had been, "When Dumbledore was still alive, before things exploded as they inevitably did, do you remember anything about James or Lily Potter nee Evans?"

Rabastan shook his head negatively. "Not really," he replied. "I remember receiving orders, fighting, trying to keep calm and just stay alive; I can't say that I paid too much attention to anyone outside of our limited family," he admitted.

Rodolphus nodded, having expected that response. "I understand," he said. "However, I _do_ remember. Early on, before the Potters and so many other members of the Order went off into hiding it was said that Lily Potter had some type of incurable disease brought on by years of meddling in things - mostly old and forbidden magics - that she should not have, a disease unknown to the best mediwitches, wizards, and healers of that time or even now. The disease, or curse I suppose it might have actually been, had supposedly left her barren - unable to carry children. This was a good few years before Fay would be born, before he was even thought of. So the question is, if the stories were true - and my sources were incredibly reliable even then - how could Fay possibly exist?" he asked, looking intently at his brother who stared at with completely out of character wide eyes and slightly agape mouth. "That," Rodolphus went on, "is what I would like to find the answer to."

For a while both brothers were silent, the only noise the slight whistling of wind outside the manor and the crackle and pop of the fire, before Rodolphus spoke again.

"I think," he said slowly, staring into the fire as the flames reflected in his eyes, giving them a very unreal appearance, "that Fay may not be the son of Lily and James Potter at all, it just doesn't fit."


	8. Who I Am

"So," Ace said, flopping down in the seat beside me in an oddly graceful way as we waited for Madame Grey and the others to arrive for the our lesson. "Are you ready to discover whether you really are part faerie?"

I had been thinking about it quite a bit since the lesson that it had first been mentioned, and even more since our last lesson earlier in the week. After a while I had finally come to the conclusion that, if everyone I met seemed to believe that I had some type of creature ancestry, there _must_ be at least the smallest amount of truth to it, right? It was possible that I had an ancestor who was a faerie, or some other type of creature, but what kind of creature was the question.

"I think so," I finally replied, watching as Madame Grey walked into the room and stood at the front, patiently waiting for everyone to wander in from breakfast and seat themselves. "I don't think that it will really matter either way if I have creature blood or not, but it will satisfy my curiosity - as well as the curiosity of pretty much everyone else."

Ace nodded. "I already know that I am half elf, my father is a pureblooded elf after all while my mother is a witch, so I'm not worried about what my test will show," he said. "I _am_ curious about what your test will show however; you could be any number of things!"

"I know," I said. "It is not as if my parents ever mentioned anything important to me, they barely spoke to me at all really unless they were yelling and complaining about how I ruined their lives."

"Well, now you never have to see them again," Ace said kindly, his eyes softening.

I just nodded as Madame Grey cleared her throat lightly, grabbing everyone's attention in order to begin the lesson.

"Good morning everyone," she said, pausing as we all replied before going on. "Today, as I mentioned at the end of the last lesson, we will be discussing the test I have discovered and been given authorization to allow you all to use in order to discover whether there are any creatures in your family's bloodline. Alright?" We all nodded silently. "Very well. The test is very simple actually, you simply give your finger or palm a small cut and allow the blood to fall onto one of these slips of parchment" - she held up a small stack of blank parchment slips before setting them back on her desk - "which have been charmed by the goblins of the London branch of Gringotts to tell whether you have any type of creature blood or not and what it is. If you have creature blood the parchment will expand as much as needed to form your family tree and show how far back the creature was a part of your family as well as who it was and what they were or are. If you are uncomfortable with doing the test you do not have to, however it is always better to know in advance rather than be surprised if it comes to show in the future," she added seriously. "Now, would anyone like to volunteer to do the test first?"

She waited as no one spoke or moved, not wanting to be the person who went first.

After a few minutes of silence Ace stood and walked over to stand in front of Madame Grey's desk where he picked up a piece of parchment and set it down on an empty part of the desk before taking the knife Madame Grey offered silently and made a small cut on his finger, letting the blood well up slowly before dripping onto the parchment. Immediately beautiful, curly writing filled the small slip, forming his family tree with his name at the very bottom yet only going to his parents, listing their names and, under his father's name simply 'Elf.'

"Very good Ace," Madame Grey said softly. "Thank you for going first despite obviously know that your father was an elf."

He shrugged, an impish grin on his face. "I figured that it would be easier to go first when I already knew what would be shown rather than someone else who doesn't know who might have gotten one of the largest shocks of their life," he explained.

Madame Grey smiled proudly, nodding. "Thank you, you may go back to your seat and may take the parchment with you of course."

As Ace returned to his seat beside me Madame Grey washed the blood from the knife just as another boy, that I didn't actually know by name unfortunately, stood and took his turn. The boy was silent as he took the test, discovering as the parchment grew that there was an incubus far back on his father's side of the family making him about a one hundred and twenty-eighth incubus, an obvious shock judging by his expression as he returned to his seat.

One of the girls, Aurora, went next. She watched in fascination as her family tree branched out on the parchment until it came to a stop, saying that her great grandmother from her mother's side was a pixie. As she walked slowly back to her seat, her eyes remained focused solely on the parchment in obvious awe for one reason or another, the revelation of her pixie heritage or something else.

Another girl went before I finally got up the courage to take the test myself. When I stood Ace sat up from his lazing position to watch carefully. I took the knife and a new piece of parchment, cutting a small line on my left index finger and holding it over the parchment so that it would drip down on it. A name appeared written where my name should be and pair of names where my parents' names should be, 'faerie' written beneath the name where my mother's should be, and 'elf' under where my father's should have been.

I looked up at Madame Grey in a panic. "Who are these people?" I whispered, meeting her equally confused gaze. "This isn't my name, and those are _not_ my parents!"

"Fay," Madame Grey said, trying to keep both herself and me calm. "It was your blood that was dripped onto the parchment, no one else, so it has to be your name and your parents. You just may not be who you thought you were," she added, slightly uncertain now.

"If I'm not Harry Potter, then who am I?" I asked with wide eyes.

Madame Grey gently took the parchment and read it. "I believe that you are Írdir son of Mírdaer and Leanne, who, if I am thinking of the correct couple, are the co-rulers of faerie and Elvin society after having bonded when they were young, breaking their betrothals in order to be with the one the loved and in the process bringing together two rival societies. It was said that the young couple's first son disappeared - supposedly kidnapped - but the Oracles were certain that he was yet alive. While the couple have had a number of children since, they have never been the same . . ." she finished, trailing off sadly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before asking, my voice hoarse, "You think that I am the lost son?"

"I believe that it is possible," she replied. "You would need to do a blood test to be sure."

"It . . . it would actually make sense that I am not the son of James and Lily Potter," I said after a moment, looking down at the parchment. "They never treated me as their son, only someone to blame for their misfortunes."

Madame Grey rested her hand on my shoulder, causing me to look up at her once again. "When this lesson is finished, perhaps we can go speak with Madame Callen about arranging a blood test to find whether your parents truly are Mírdaer and Leanne. If they are your parents, they must be contacted immediately."

I nodded slowly.

"Go back to your seat and we will go talk to Madame Callen after the lesson, alright?" she asked with a smile.

With another nod I picked up the slip of parchment and went back to my seat, staring at the three unfamiliar names written on it as I sat. Ace leaned over, using my shoulder to balance as he looked at the parchment, his face screwing up in confusion as he formed the names with his mouth.

"I don't understand," he said quietly, not wanting to disrupt the next person's testing. "I thought that you were James and Lily Potter's only son Harry?"

"So did I," I replied, looking up at him blankly.

"If you aren't the Potters' son," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "then who are you really?"

I shrugged, not knowing how to answer him.

We both sat quietly for the rest of the lesson as everyone went up and took the test, only one or two people finding that they had no creature ancestry.

When the lesson finished everyone left the room quickly with their parchment slips in their hands, excited to tell their friends about the results. I remained in my seat, waiting for Madame Grey to finish putting the unused slips of parchment away in one of her desk drawers.

Finished, she walked over to me. "Are you ready?" she asked.

I stood and nodded. "Yes, I am as ready as I will ever be."

She nodded and led the way out of the room and to Madame Callen's office, knocking politely on the door and waiting to enter until she had received a reply.

Madame Callen stood from her chair behind her desk to greet us as we walked inside the office. "Madame Grey, Fay, what a surprise!" she said. "Is there something I can do for you both?" she asked, motioning for the two of us to sit in the chairs in front of her desk.

"Actually, there is," Madame Grey replied as we took our seats. "You remember how we were testing for creature ancestry in my lessons today, correct?"

"Yes, of course," Madame Callen replied with a nod.

"When the test is taken, the person whose blood is used, their family tree will appear going back as far as there was a creature in the line," Madame Grey began to explain as Madame Callen nodded along in understanding. "Well, when Fay took the test, something unusual happened - his name on the family tree was not Harry Potter, but Írdir, and his parents not James and Lily Potter, but Mírdaer and Leanne, Mírdaer - his father - an elf, and Leanne - his mother - being a faerie."

"Oh dear, the King and Queen," Madame Callen whispered breathlessly, her eyes wide.

"We would like permission to do a blood test on Fay, just to be certain," Madame Grey continued. "If he really is who I believe he may be, then he is the lost son that the co-rulers have been looking for without rest for over fifteen years."

Madame Callen immediately nodded, quickly writing something on a piece of parchment then standing from her seat. "Of course," she said. "I will contact Gringotts immediately to arrange a blood test. They will however need to do the test in person at the bank I believe," she added, looking at me as she moved to the owl sitting on a perch beside one of the large windows and tying the parchment to its leg.

I nodded, then asked slowly and a bit uncertainly, "What will happen if I am Írdir?"

After opening the window and telling the owl it's destination Madame Callen came back to kneel beside me. "If you are Írdir, your parents will be contacted immediately and notified that you have been and are safe. Then, I believe that they will either rush to come get you in person, or send people that they trust completely to retrieve you. Írdir was their firstborn son, lost before even his first year had passed, they will want you home if you _are_ their son," she explained kindly. "You will go with them, and from there - I do not know what will happen to you. You will be the heir to their thrown, so obviously you will be very well treated if that is any reassurance to you especially after Lily and James . . ." she trailed off.

Shakily I nodded. "It is a reassurance," I admitted. "Although, I don't know the first thing about being an heir or about elves and faeries in general either."

She smiled at me. "They won't mind I am sure," she said. "As long as your willing to learn about your culture and your place I believe that you will be fine."

"Alright," I said. "How long will it take for the blood test to be arranged?"

"A couple of hours at most, Fay," Madame Callen replied. "In a few hours we will be contacted about the test being ready and then we will floo to Gringotts. It will take no longer than a few minutes for you to take the test and then we will know one way or another whether you are the son of the King and Queen or not."

"What do I have to do for the test?" I asked, looking from Madame Callen to Madame Grey.

It was Madame Grey who replied. "While I do not know everything about it, I know that the blood test is not much different than the creature inheritance test was," she said. "The difference is that when you cut your hand the blood will fall into a large stone bowl with intricate carvings all along both the inside and the outside and filled with - something, a clear liquid of some sort I believe. I don't know what happens then, I'm afraid, but the goblin there giving you the test will, I'm sure, explain what will happen and what must be done."

I nodded when Madame Grey was finished and for a few minutes we were silent before I asked, "What should I do while we wait for Gringotts to contact you? Should I return to my lessons? I haven't had lunch yet, is it over already?"

Madame Callen chuckled lightly, shaking her head slightly as she stood up and went back to her chair behind her desk. "I think actually that you should stay here," she replied. "I was just about to have lunch brought up when you knocked at my door, so you can stay and have lunch here while we wait. We don't know how long it will take the goblins to respond after all and I don't want to have to go and track you down."

I nodded at her logic, it made sense that I should stay in her office when she explained it like that.

"Madame Grey, there is still about half and hour before lunch is over and forty-five minutes before your next lesson begins," Madame Callen continued.

"Yes of course," Madame Grey replied, standing and walking to the door. Before she left, she turned back to smile at me and said, "Don't take this the wrong way Fay, but I hope that you do not come back here." And then she was gone, the door falling closed behind her with a soft _click_.

* C * L *

The owl Madame Callen had sent to Gringotts returned only just over an hour and half after she sent it, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise. She quickly untied the letter attached to it's leg and broke the seal, immediately beginning to read, reading it over again when she finished.

When she finally looked up, she folded the letter and slid it into a pocket of her robes. "Come Fay," she said simply as she moved to the large fireplace. "Would you like to go first, or should I?" she asked when she saw my hesitation.

"I have never used the floo before," I admitted uncertainly.

She smiled kindly and not at all patronizingly. "It is very simple," she said. "You take a handful of floo powder and throw it down, saying very clearly your destination as you do. In this case, you will say clearly 'Gringotts Wizard Bank, London.' Alright?"

I nodded, still not entirely confident, but willing to try. I stepped forward, grabbing a handful of the gray powder in the pot beside the fireplace before stepping inside and turning to face Madame Callen. Taking a deep breath I threw the powder down and said as clearly as I could my destination, hoping that I would end up at the right place.

Before I even really registered what had happened, only realizing that I was moving incredibly quickly and past numerous different fireplaces I stumbled out of a fireplace and into a white marble entrance hall. Only a moment later Madame Callen stepped out behind me gracefully, not stumbling at all as she brushed a small spot of soot from her robes.

When she saw me standing there she smiled proudly. "Good job Fay, you made it!"

I shakily smiled in return.

"Alright, now we must go to one of the tellers and tell them that we are here for your blood test," Madame Callen said, immediately walking inside the bank and heading for an unoccupied goblin. "Excuse me," she said, getting the goblin's attention. "We are here for a blood test for a boy by the name of Fay, a courtesan in training."

The goblin nodded, looking through a pile of parchment on the desk in front of him before finding what he needed and ringing a bell. "Of course Madame, if you and the boy would follow Griphook here, he will be performing the test today," the goblin said as he handed the paper to another, younger looking goblin.

We followed the younger goblin - Griphook, the other goblin had called him - out of the hall and down a hallway lined with doors with brass name plates on them, offices I assumed, until we came to room with Griphook's name on the door. In the center of the room was desk with a large bowl, just like the one that Madame Grey had described with intricate carvings on it and full of a clear liquid. Griphook, after closing the door behind us, moved to stand on the far side of the desk from us on a small stool, motioning for me to stand opposite him.

"You are the boy Fay, correct?" he asked, his voice just the slightest bit nasally as he spoke.

I nodded. "Yes sir," I replied.

"Very good. I will explain what you must do for the test to work and what will happen, then you will perform the test and we will await the results," Griphook explained. When I nodded to show that I understood he began to speak again. "I was told that you have already undergone a creature ancestry test, which, unfortunately can be tampered with, unlike the blood test which is why testing you now is important. The blood test is fairly similar with a few differences. For example, the blood test will need more blood than was needed for the creature ancestry test, it is most people's preference to make the cut on their palm rather than their finger for this test for it to go more quickly. The blood will be dripped into this basin here, which is filled with a special liquid that will, in it's own way, tell you your lineage. It will take a few moments after your blood grips into the liquid for the test to finish, so in that time we will wait and seal the cut on your hand. Is that clear?" he asked me seriously.

"Yes," I said.

"Very well, we can now begin," Griphook said, handing me a knife, similar to the one I had used earlier that day - had it really only been a few hours? I cut the palm of my left hand, holding it directly over the basin and letting he blood fall in until Griphook said that I could take it away. As Griphook cleaned my hand, rubbed a paste of some kind on the cut and then wrapped it with a strip of linen bandage I watched the liquid mixed with my blood in what, in my mind, was morbid fascination as it swirled about on it's own, forming swirls and shapes that weren't there long enough to really make out.

After a few minutes the shapes began to become more distinct, they began to form letters - words. The first word that formed was a name, a familiar name, now, Írdir. Then two more names branching off from the first, Mírdaer and Leanne followed by four more names that I didn't recognize branching off from first Mírdaer, Brandaer and Ríves, then from Leanne, Dale and Kaia with another name beside Leanne - Keith.

I looked over my shoulder at Madame Callen after a moment. "It's true," I said softly. "I really am Írdir."

Madame Callen smiled. "That is good," she replied, her voice equally soft. "You have a family who wants you, and you do not have to be a servant to anyone ever again."

I nodded silently before turning to stare back into the basin in awe, as well as shock.

Griphook cleared his throat softly. "The King and Queen will need to be notified that their son has been found," he said, stepping down off of his stool and going to the door. "If you will excuse me, I will leave you alone as I make arrangements for someone to come."

Madame Callen came to stand beside me after Griphook left, a silent comfort even when she did nothing more than stand beside me. "You have an uncle," she said. "Your mother's brother."

I nodded. "If . . . if my parents are the rulers of the Elvin and Fae societies like you and Madame Grey mentioned earlier, does that mean that my grandparents are all dead?" I asked, afraid to hear the answer.

With a startled little laugh Madame Callen shook her head. "No, Fay - or Írdir I suppose. In elf and faerie culture, when the heir marries then rule passes immediately to the newly married couple and the parents remain as advisers. Both elves and faeries live incredibly long lives, so it is not uncommon for multiple generations of past rulers to make up a major portion of the rulers' council of advisers. Last I knew, all of your grandparents - as well as your great grandparents and twice great grandparents were still alive. I believe that you also have a number of siblings though I do not know their names unfortunately. I am sure you will meet them all soon enough, as well as your grandparents," she added.

"I can't wait to see my family," I murmured. "My real family."

I continued to look at the names in the basin for an unknown amount of time until there was a loud knock at the door, before I opened. Griphook walked in and held the door open for six unfamiliar people, all tall and young, with pointed features - including their ears - and every one of them male, letting it fall closed again when they were all inside.

Griphook stepped forward, "Your Highness," he said to me, "may I introduce Lord Húron, the top general of the Elvin army, and a close friend of your father's."

One of the elves, with raven black hair and eyes like steal bowed. "Your Highness," he said, his voice smooth and deep. "It is an honor to meet you and a relief to have found you at long last, after all of these years. Your parents wished to come themselves, but it was not possible at the time. They sent myself and some of my most trusted men in their stead to meet you and bring you home."

Home.

They had come to take him home, to his real home with his true family and not the people who had abused him after kidnapping him and offering him up as a lamb for slaughter.

Húron continued by introducing each of the other elves with him, having each step forward as he spoke their names. "This is Fanor," he said as an elf with nearly white hair and pale blue eyes stepped forward and bowed with a kind smile. "He is a close friend of mine and what I suppose could be thought similar to an army priest, a spiritual.

"Malgelir, our resident jokester and one of the single best warriors you will ever see or meet," Húron continued as the next elf stepped forward, he had partially spiked dark red hair, freckles, and mischievous blue eyes. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a joker just by the look in his eyes.

I smiled when he grinned and winked at me playfully.

"This is Nestor one of our healers, he focuses more on the health of the mind and spirit - mental health - while his twin brother Maeron, our other healer focuses on the health of the body - physical health," Húron explained as the two stepped forward together. The two looked as alike as could be, with brown, almost red curly hair and light green eyes as well as identical smiles when they stood from their simultaneous bows.

"Finally, we have Inuon," Húron introduced the last elf to step forward. A dainty - compared to the others - almost delicate elf with long light brown hair pulled into a long braid down his back and soft brown eyes. "A sneaky, and often underestimated young man, but one of our best undercover agents because of it."

Húron went silent after his introduction of Inuon, all six elves standing side by side obviously waiting for me to respond.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you," I said, somewhat uncertainly. "I am afraid that, having only known who I really am for an hour or so, I a still in a bit of shock, so please excuse me. I don't know anything at all about my family or culture having been brought up as a servant for all - or most of, it seems - my life, so I apologize in advance for any assumptions or if I offend you in any way." I stopped, realizing that I had begun to babble.

"It is no trouble you Highness," Húron said. "We will remember to the best of our abilities that everything from now forward will be entirely new to you as you have not seen anyone of your own race since you were under a year old. Please feel free to ask questions about anything that does not make sense to you, it is better to have things explained than for you to make assumptions."

I smiled and replied, "I agree. I would feel terribly rude if I were to draw the wrong conclusions."

Húron nodded. "We just leave soon your Highness," he said. "Your siblings do not know that you have been found, however your parents are more than likely incredibly anxious for your arrival. If there is anything you must collect we must do so now, please let me know."

"No, there is nothing that I need to collect," I replied, shaking my head negatively. "If I could however, I would like to ask something of Madame Callen?"

With a nod of permission from Húron I turned to Madame Callen. "Thank you," I said sincerely. "For everything. Would you tell everyone goodbye for me?"

She nodded with a small, sad smile. "Of course," she replied. "I hope that you will soon find all the happiness that you deserve when you return to your parents."

"So do I," I replied. "I can't wait to see my parents, and the siblings that I have never been able to meet."

"Go."

With a final smile I turned back to Húron and the others who led the way out of the room, back to the entrance hall.

"We will be using the floo network to get to the palace," Fanor explained when we stopped at one of the fireplaces. "You need special permission to floo, apparate, or teleport into the capital, let alone the palace so you will floo together with one of us."

I nodded. "Alright," I agreed.

"I will take him," Inuon offered. "We are the smallest two after all, so we will be able to fit better."

Húron shrugged. "If you wish," he said. "I will go first." He stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder and said something that I couldn't even hope to understand.

Inuon held out his hand to me and, when I took it, immediately pulled me into the fireplace after him, grabbing a handful of floo powder as he went. He pulled my against his side tightly, releasing my hand to wrap that arm around me as he threw the powder down and said what Húron had said, or something similar.

There was that rushing feeling as we left Gringotts and passed the other floo-connected fireplaces before Inuon stepped out at our destination. When he was sure that I was stably on my own two feet he unwrapped his arm from around me and stepped slightly away to wait for the others.

When everyone had arrived, Húron led the way out of the room, which seemed to be solely a receiving room for the floo. He led us through a maze of corridors and up a couple of staircases before finally knocking on one of two double doors and waiting for permission to enter.

"Enter," a male voice called from inside the room.

Húron opened the door and the sound of voices talking softly was heard was well as a few lazy notes played on a piano. I followed Húron with my heart in my throat, I knew without having to ask that my family was inside.

The room turned out to be a library - a _very_ large library filled with more books than I could remember ever having seen. I couldn't see anyone at first, with the rows and rows of books blocking them from my eyes, but I could hear them talking and hear the piano. We walked toward the back of the library and turned the corner at the end of the rows of bookshelves.

And they were there.

A man that could only be my father with my dark hair as well as facial and body shape but eyes a blue/grey color, our similarities noticeable even though he was many years older than myself, and the woman beside him my mother, who had my eyes and skin tone but light brown hair, sat in two comfortable looking armchairs in front of multiple large windows which were lit with the light of the setting sun.

In my mother's arms was an infant which looked no older than a few months. It waved it's tiny fists, clenching them and unclenching them up at my mother as it blew little spit bubbles and made small cooing noises at her.

At my parents feet two toddlers that I guessed to be twins sat trying to fit different shaped blocks through the holes of a toy cube, laughing happily whenever they got one to fit.

A girl of about five, maybe six sat at a table completely absorbed in her coloring as the other girl that sat across from her who looked a few years old rolled her eyes while smiling fondly at her before going back to what I guessed to be an assignment of some kind, from a tutor possibly.

At the piano sat a boy who looked only a year or two younger than myself, who seemed to be trying to teach the boy beside him you didn't look much younger than him how to play.

After a moment, Húron cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "Your Majesties," he said, bowing to them. "Your Highnesses," he added, bowing to the kids scattered all around. Looking at my parents he continued, "We have returned - and we brought something, or rather some _one_ , with us." He gestured for me to step forward, which I did, moving to stand right beside him.

My parents stared at me as if they had seen a ghost of years past, and my brothers and sisters looked at me in confusion.

"Mum, da," the older boy sitting at the piano said slowly. "Is he . . . who I think he is?"

"Who do you believe he is Trichon?" my father asked.

"He . . . he looks like Nethanar and I do," Trichon said, frowning. "However, he is older, old enough to be Írdir . . ." he trailed off looking at me and seeming to wait.

I looked at my father who nodded and smiled, then at my mother you beamed, her eyes sparkling almost as if she was holding back tears, before letting out the breath I hadn't even realized that I had been holding.

"He look very much like yourself and Nethan, Tri," he said as he stood, "because he is your brother also. His name is Írdir, and he has come home to us at last."


	9. Family

_"He . . . he looks like Nethanar and I do," Trichon said, frowning. "However, he is older, old enough to be Írdir . . ." he trailed off looking at me and seeming to wait._

_I looked at my father who nodded and smiled, then at my mother you beamed, her eyes sparkling almost as if she was holding back tears, before letting out the breath I hadn't even realized that I had been holding._

_"He look very much like yourself and Nethan, Tri," he said as he stood, "because he is your brother also. His name is Írdir, and he has come home to us at last."_

"My son has been found and has come home to us," Mírdaer repeated, raising a hand, which just barely trembled, to cup my cheek in his palm.

Standing so close to my father I realized that, while from a distance we had looked incredibly similar, looking at him closer we didn't really look very much alike besides our hair color and our lithe builds. My father was a good head taller than myself, and had eyes that seemed to be a mixture of blue and grey with just the slightest upturn, high cheek bones, and evenly tan skin, he was also tall with the typical pointed elf ears. He looked fairly young as well which confused me as I knew that he was at the very least about thirty-five years old, however he didn't look older than his mid- or maybe even lower-twenties.

My father, during the time in which I was looking him over closely, was observing me as well with a slight frown, his hand which had been resting on my cheek now on my shoulder.

"There seems to be some kind of, of glamour over you, my son," he said. "Would you mind very much if I were to remove it?"

I shook my head negatively. "No, of course not . . . father," I replied, the word feeling odd in my mouth.

He brought his hand up, placing his palm over the center of my forehead and closed his eyes, his lips moving quickly. A white light flared up all around me and with a sudden jerk in the pit of my stomach I gasped, my eyes flying open before I even registered that they had been closed in the first place, my sight slightly blurry. My legs began to feel weak and as they began to shake someone moved to support me, allowing me to lean against their side as they wrapped an arm around my midsection.

It seemed like much longer than I knew it actually was before everything came back into focus. I smiled gratefully at the person at my side supporting me, who turned out to be Húron. "Are you alright, your highness?" he asked quietly.

Slowly, I nodded. "Yes," I replied, frowning slightly thinking that my voice sounded off, not even bothering to worry about the title he had used for the moment - there were more important things to think about. "Yes, I believe I am alright."

My father commented, "Your voice is different, a bit higher."

I looked at him, my frown deepening at having my thought being confirmed. "Is the glamour gone?" I asked as Húron led me, a bit unsteadily on my part, to an empty chair.

"Oh yes," he replied with a nod as I leaned heavily against the back of the chair. "You may wish to take a look at yourself, I am afraid that being told will not do the changes revealed justice."

Not a second later a mirror appeared hovering a couple of feet in front of me causing me to blink in surprise. It hadn't occurred to me that elves would have magic different than witches and wizards, but having a mirror appear without use of a wand or spell made me pause to consider the fact before deciding that I would think on it more later.

Having pushed my surprise from my mind I took a look at myself in the mirror. Despite what my father had said about my appearance changing I was still taken aback by the person staring back at me.

I looked . . . smaller and, for lack of a better descriptive word, almost feminine. I was certainly shorter, by a good amount - maybe a handful of inches - that much was obvious and my hair was also longer, not too long but just past my shoulders, and had just the slightest wavy curl about it as it framed my face. My face had also changed, my cheekbones were higher my nose smaller and my eyes, previously a simple green color, much like Lily Potter's made been, looked a lot larger and with the contrast of pale skin, dark lashes and my long dark hair stood out like emeralds with glints of silvery grey, a beautiful mix of my parents' eyes. When I tilted my head to the side my eyes widened, seeing the definite point of my ear through my hair; immediately I brushed my hair back behind my ears.

"Oh," I breathed.

"Hm." I looked up at the humming noise, realizing that my mother was standing beside the mirror with the baby still in her arms, a considering and thoughtful look on her face. "From your appearance I would guess that Fanor was correct in what he told us after you were born, you _do_ have the typical features of a submissive; a few simple tells," she said thoughtfully. At my confused look and raised eyebrows she added, "It is nothing to worry about, honestly. We will explain everything to you later, however for now, how would you like to meet your brothers and sisters?"

I nodded immediately. "Of course," I replied, excited at the prospect of meeting my siblings, yet also nervous about what their opinions of me would be.

She beamed at me and motioned me forward, shifting the infant in her arms and revealing a small tuft of curly hair which looked to be black or possibly a very dark brown color. "This is our youngest - for the moment that it. Her name is Bainith, however we have taken to calling her Bain, the twins call her Benny," she added, smiling fondly at the toddlers still playing on the floor, both with brown hair a slightly darker shade than our mother's. "The twins are the next youngest. The oldest is on the left, that is Arthor and the youngest on the right is Arion." When their names were spoken the twins looked up at us with curious bright blue eyes as if silently asking what they had done to be spoken of, to which I smiled and gave a small wave causing them both the giggle and wave back enthusiastically before going back to their toy.

My mother laughed and I smiled a bit shyly in return before she continued. "Then is Thianith, or Tia as we more often call her," she went on, pointing to the younger of the two girls sitting at one of the tables who nearly looked like a younger, female version of myself with eyes a paler color green than mine and hair that fell in perfectly formed curls, partially pulled back with a sparkly clip. She, like her older siblings, was watching me closely - having stopped her drawing for the moment - and waved when she was introduced, smiling brightly at me.

"Across from her is Duvainthel, or Vainia, our oldest daughter," my father broke in. Vainia grinned and saluted me with the quill she had previously been writing with, she looked very much like Thianith but her hair was a lighter brown and her eyes a bit brighter in color.

"Over at the piano is Nethanar, or Nate as we call him, and Trichon is the oldest after you," my mother finished, her eyes now back on me after introducing the two oldest other than myself.

I was wide-eyed as I looked around the room at my family - the men who had retrieved me having moved back to give us a show of privacy as they had not yet been given permission to leave. From the two boys that looked so like myself, to the baby in my mother's arms and to my parents themselves I was honestly struck speechless, this was my family - my _real_ family - who I had only just met and I couldn't seem to find the words, despite trying.

Clearing my throat I said finally, hearing the roughness despite the now higher pitch, "I am not sure what to say, only hours ago I had thought I was an only child - by different parents who hated me for something that was not my fault no less. I am afraid that saying 'hello' and 'I am very happy to meet you all' just simply isn't enough. While I am in slight shock I really am happy to meet all of you and I hope that I can live up to any expectations you might have for me."

"There are no expectations son," my father assured me, stepping forward and resting a large hand on my shoulder. "We thought that we would never see you again, despite our tireless and seemingly useless searching, but when we discovered that you were alive . . . all we wanted was for you to return to us, to live with us and allow us the chance to know you,  
nothing more." There was an almost pleading look in his eyes as he looked at me while saying this and there was only one answer I could give.

"Of course," I said, smiling. "There is nothing in the world that I would like more than to be given the chance to know all of you and live the life I might have lived had I not been taken from you. There is one thing however that I would like to ask," I added after a small pause.

"Anything," my mother said.

"When I was brought to the Courtesan's Castle, I chose a name for myself wishing to rid myself of any ties to the Potter family. I would like to keep the name that I chose as my own, if you allow it," I requested lowering my eyes, afraid that I had angered them.

My mother said softly, "You may keep your name, it is a part of you now and something that you chose which holds fond memories. I wouldn't ask you to give up something so important to you. I _would_ like to ask what name you chose if you wouldn't mind?"

I looked up at her, my eyes bright. "Thank you," I said. "And, it seems ironic now, but I chose the name Fay."

She inclined her head with a big smile. "Pleased to meet you Fay."

* C * L *

My arrival in the palace caused a great stir among the elves and faeries living there, in the capital, and in all other towns and cities - the heir had returned.

The weeks after I arrived were a whirlwind of activity. There was a lavish suite of rooms in one of the towers, fittings for an entirely new wardrobe "befitting my station as heir to the throne," as Trichon told me as he rolled his eyes. I had become increasingly closer with my oldest brothers who, while still a bit hesitant about a stranger coming into their lives who was their lost sibling whom they had never met, they were slowly warming up to me and making me feel welcome, sharing palace gossip and information, just little facts for the most part.

The real knowledge came from my endless hours spent with tutors who taught me the basics of Elvin and Fae societies first, before moving to what I personally needed to know as heir, in order to rule when I married, and in the library researching anything that had been mentioned which I didn't understand.

I quickly developed a routine much like the one I had while training to become a courtesan. I woke, dressed, ate breakfast with my family - something that had quickly become apparent was that all meals, except for when a state event was happening, were eaten as a family - did physical training with my brothers and Vainia, as well as Húron, Malgelir, and Inuon which included anything from hand-to-hand fighting and weaponry to archery and horseback riding. Then was a rest period before lunch with the family, and hours of tutoring, as well as searching the library - which quickly became one of my favorite things to do when I had the spare time. I had a lesson before dinner every other day with either Nestor or Maeron, who taught me about different healing techniques which, they said often, were always good to know - just in case. Then dinner, again with the family, although we were often joined by different elves, often at least one of the group that retrieved me joined us, obviously being fairly close with my mother and father.

After dinner we all made our way to the library where we sat together, those of old enough to have tutors often doing assigned work or reading, sometimes we would simply talk and Tri would play the piano which I had quickly learned he could play beautifully even at his young age as well as just about any other instrument you could think of. We would stay there until darkness had long fallen before returning to our rooms for the night.

It was almost two months before my parents told me at last what my mother had meant the night we met. After dinner my siblings had gathered around the piano while Tri played, keeping them distracted as my parents gently guided me away for some privacy, Bain held carefully in my mother's arms like always, sleeping peacefully.

"Fay," my mother began, lowering herself onto the seat of an armchair, careful of Bain, "do you remember the day you arrived here and your father removed the glamour from you, I said something?"

I nodded. "Of course, you said that Fanor was correct, that I had the typical features of a submissive, but that you would speak to me about it at another time," I replied, sitting in a chair opposite my parents.

"Yes," she said. "Your father and I have decided that it would be best to tell you what I meant now rather than later." She looked to my father.

My father cleared his throat. "You see Fay," he began, continuing what my mother had been saying. "You know about witches and wizards, how wizards are able to conceive and carry children if they are both powerful enough, correct?" I nodded, having had it explained to me a number of times. "Well, with faeries and elves it is similar, however, not all males can conceive and carry. There are two classifications for males - females are solely submissive if you were wondering - which are dominant and submissive. The dominants are unable to carry while submissives are, and when children are born they are often brought before a spiritual who tells the parents what the child will be when they mature, usually within the first week weeks, sometimes days. Being a submissive does not mean that you are a woman Fay, you are still male, however you have certain - attributes which allow you to carry and softer, more delicate features.

"After you were born your mother and I brought you to Fanor, a very close friend of both of ours, and he told us that you would be submissive," he continued. "Now, being submissive as our heir, simply means that you must marry a man, or men, who will be the dominant partner, or partners, and rule as consort, while you are King. It is as simple as that. You will be treated no differently, unless when with child, except by your dominants."

I nodded, my face a bright shade of pink from my embarrassment.

"The reason we wished to tell you of this now rather than later, is that with your approaching birthday, a few months from now, you will be considered fully matured, thus dominants will wish to attempt to court you," my mother added. "We had hoped, however, that if you were not opposed, we would arrange a possible marriage in order to ally ourselves with another race - wizards to be exact. Before you were found, we had planned to do the same for Nate, him being a submissive as well. If you are opposed, we can continue with plans for Nethanar to marry a wizard and you may choose whomever you wish," she added seeing my wide-eyes expression. "The choice is yours entirely Fay."

Letting out the breath I hadn't even realized I had been holding my mind kicked into overdrive, running through everything that my parents had said in the past few minutes.

"How . . . how is a person chosen by the wizards to marry for a purpose such as this?" I asked slowly, deciding to ask one question at a time and trying to remain as calm - outwardly at the very least - as possible.

"Negotiations will be set up between the wizards and ourselves," my father answered, resting his hand over my mother's. "There will be multiple meetings between us, introducing multiple suitors as options for you. Ultimately, you will _feel_ it when the correct person has been found. All people will have a draw about them for you, however those with the strongest pull to them will be the ones chosen, not unlike what it is said mates feel upon meeting, however neither elves nor faeries normally have specified mates."

I paused before something occurred to me. "You said 'ones'," I said. "As in more than one are possible?"

He nodded. "It is very possible with your levels of power, that you will need more than one consort."

"Levels of power?" I repeated in confusion, having heard the saying used before yet unsure what the meaning of it was.

"Yes, we all have a type of power, some place where we fit naturally and feel the most comfortable," my mother replied. "For example Nestor and Maedor, twins who are very much in tune with healing yet one physical and the other mental and spiritual. Also, Tia is a seer as I am sure you have already heard. As she is still young she doesn't understand much of what she sees, mostly expressing her visions through her drawings, however Fanor does his best to help channel her visions, encouraging her drawings and other expressions of them. It is not often that she realizes that what she has seen it, in fact, a vision of some kind," she added.

"Your power will not necessarily be expressed through something along the lines of what wizards refer to as 'magic' - in fact that is very rare; often it is simply a talent, such as Trichon's gift with music and Vainia's intelligence," my father said. "I, for example, am able to do what would be referred to as 'magic', yet in a different way. I do it without use of a wand or other channeling instrument, I simply visualize what I wish to happen and it does, unlike wizards who use spells and wands."

I nodded. "How do I find my . . . talent? How will I know?"

Both of my parents shrugged.

"It will, more than likely, be something obvious, something that has shown itself all along but you never realized that it was special," my mother said. "Knowing what you do now, you will know when it happens next more likely than not."

That didn't exactly help me, but there were other things that I needed to ask. "About the feeling you said that I would get," I said. "Is it possible for the dominants to have already felt something? Or for me to feel something as well?"

"It is possible, yes." My father nodded. "Why? Have you felt something for anyone?"

I nodded. "Yes, when I was at the castle, there were two brothers that immediately we had a sort of pull to one another," I answered. "One of them is married to a witch, though they have been attempting to dissolve their marriage since they married, possible even before they married."

"Hm," my father hummed thoughtfully. "How did the pull feel? Was it simply physical attraction?"

"No." I shook my head negatively. "It . . . I can't really describe it actually. Of course I recognized that they are incredibly attractive and powerful men, however for me, after I met them, I couldn't seem to stop thinking about them, they were never far from my mind. Other men visited the castle, but they never seemed to stay in my mind the way that the two of them did, if that makes any sense to you at all?" I finished, my statement becoming a sighed out question.

They both smiled at me, with a certain look in their eyes after hearing me talk about the Lestrange brothers. Until talking about the way that I had been feeling about them, the way that I reacted to them, I didn't realize that there really was a draw felt to them and the way that they had been acting whenever we met led me to believe that they felt something similar.

"Well, if you agree to our arranging a marriage," my father said.

"And of course tell us who the brothers whom you have been speaking of are," my mother chimed in with a smile.

"Then we can attempt to arrange your marriage with the brothers, as well as dissolve the marriage between the one who is married and the witch whom he is married," my father continued smoothly after my mother's interruption, glancing over at her and raising an eyebrow when he did.

Slowly, I nodded. If I did not agree to the arranged marriage then I would just marry someone else that I don't know. _Marrying Rodolphus and/or Rabastan would have happened anyway if I had not discovered who I really was, so why not?_ I thought. "I agree to you arranging a marriage with the wizards for me," I said. "The brothers who I felt the pull to are Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange; Rodolphus is married to a witch named Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black."

"We will do everything we can Fay," my mother assured me. "As long as the brothers are agreeable, there should be no problems."

* C * L *

"Why is everyone looking at me that way?" I whispered uncertainly to Inuon who was walking beside me.

He looked at the people around us, unconsciously moving his hand to his side where I knew a dagger was strapped, out of sight under his loose white shirt. "Perhaps they are curious?" he suggested. "You _are_ the heir that has been missing for over fifteen years, they probably wish to get their own impressions of you now that you have returned seeing as one day soon, you will be their King."

During our mourning sessions the past few months Inuon - who was much younger than the other men I had met who were good enough to be in the army's elite, only two years older than myself - and I had grown fairly close. We had taken to wandering through the capital's streets when we both had the time, which we currently did.

I had noticed the people we passed staring at us not long after we had walked through one of the massive gates in the wall between the palace and the city and it was making me slightly uncomfortable.

"Yes, however this is not the first time we have walked through the city," I said. "Most of them have seen me before, I have even spoken with a good number of them!"

Inuon shrugged. "I am not sure," he admitted. "Perhaps you could ask someone?"

I shook my head, sighing as we walked on. "It is not that important, maybe another time."

* C * L *

Sitting in the library with my family all around me, all of us silent and engrossed in something or other was usual. I currently held Bain, giving my mother a chance to do some paperwork. Bain's dark blue eyes looked up at me, the light of the torches on the walls giving them golden touches as she held my finger in one of her tiny hands, waving it about and making soft, content noises.

"Fay?"

I startled slightly when a voice spoke at my side and looked over into pale green eyes. "Tia," I breathed. "What is it?"

"I have been . . . seeing something," she said, a slight crease forming on her forehead as she frowned, her small hands coming to rest on the arm of my chair as she leaned against it. "It it the first thing that I have been able to distinguish as an actual vision. You are in it - I have seen it repeatedly in the last few months - as well as a few other men. They have brown hair and brown eyes, they look very much alike. You are happy."

"Thank you for telling me this Tia, it is reassuring, I mean that honestly. I have been worrying over what would happen between the three of us lately as there has been no response from the wizards, at least not to my knowledge, and you have put my worries somewhat to rest. Is that all you have seen?" I asked, smiling gently at the five, almost 6 year old.

"Yes," she replied, yet her frown deepened. "Although, there is something that always follows the vision. I do not know what to make of it Fay, it is just . . . a huge grey dog running under the full moon - perhaps it is a wolf, I do not know; sometimes there are more than one. If I see something else, I will tell you Fay," she said.

I nodded. "Thank you Tia," I murmured, resting my free hand over top of both of her's.

She stood there for a moment smiling at my thanks before she turned shy, her eyes falling the the floor. "Can I sit with you Fay?" she asked timidly.

Surprised at the request I shifted Bain into the crook of my arm and nodded to Tia who quickly took the nod as an okay to climb into my lap and snuggle against my chest.

"Fay?" she whispered.

I hummed, wrapping my arm around her small frame.

"I am glad that you found us, and I am glad you are my brother," she whispered before giving a small yawn, her eyelashes fluttering as her eyes closed. "My drawings are much happier since you came."

Smiling, I rested my head against the top of her's, keeping a watch on Bain who seemed to be close to falling asleep as I replied in a soft voice, "I am glad that I found you too. My life has never been so happy."

"S'good," she mumbled. A moment later her breathing even out as she fell into the arms of Morpheus, and not long after she did Bain followed with her little hands both clutching at my hand and her short little breaths puffing against the inside of my wrist.


	10. Interlude: Dreams

_"What do you mean Lily and James never had a son? Of course they did, I think that I of all people would know, don't you Lestrange?"_

_"No, they did not have and never will have a biological son - or daughter - together."_

_"But . . . but, Harry is their son. Or, if he isn't their son, who is he?"_

_"He was born the son of the co-rulers of the Elven and Fae society. Meaning that he is the kidnapped heir to the throne, hidden beneath our noses for all this time and passed off as the son of two of Dumbledore's greatest supporters."_

_"How could they do this? I don't understand."_

_"Neither do I, however we will soon find out and they will be given what they deserve._ That _I can assure you. However, I would ask why you would leave him with Lily and James to begin with, having known what they planned for him? Why would you not ask for custody of the boy? You were his godfather were you not Sirius?"_

_"I . . ."_

* C * L *

I knew that the perfection and ease of my arrival would end sooner or later, but a person could always hope for the end to never come.

My day had been, mostly, normal and fine. We had not heard from the wizards for nearly a month now, however my mother and father, as well as many of the others who I spent a great deal of time with, did their best to assure me that it was normal for there to be a long stretch of time before we received a reply from the wizards - or any other society, however wizards especially - as they usually took a good amount of time deliberating and considering how to answer. Their words did not do much to quell my worries sadly.

It was a late May night, almost a year since my choosing ceremony, when the nightmares began. I woke up to complete darkness of my bedchamber, breathing hard and wide-eyed, staring at nothing at all. As I calmed down I began to go through the dreams in my mind, letting my eyes fall closed once more as I tried my best to relax.

_I watched as Lily Potter sneered down at my six-year-old self as she walked past in one of the manor's corridors just as she always did. "What do you want boy? I'm needed elsewhere and I can't have you keeping me. Of course, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't even be a servant, would I boy?"_

_Five year old 'Harry' shrank into himself, hunching his shoulders and his previously happy, bordering on joyous and excited, smile fading at his 'mother's' words. "Yes ma'am, of course," he murmured, his dulled green eyes dropping to the tiled corridor floor. "It was nothing really, I will leave you to your work ma'am."_

_"That's what I thought," Lily sniffed, turning her back on the boy and walking off down the corridor, not once looking back or even faltering at the soft sniffle the boy made as he pulled a small, about palm sized, opal from his pocket and looking at it tearfully before running outside and tossing it with all of his strength into one of the ponds in the manor's garden._

_"I won't ever do it again," 'Harry' cried, beginning to walk back to his room in the servants' quarters, rubbing at his eyes. "No one would care or notice anyway! They would just think that I am - I am a - a_ freak _!"_

/break/

_The whip came down one last time as a much older 'Harry' wavered at the point between consciousness and unconsciousness, his breathing ragged and weak - much like his heartbeat - yet able to hear what was happening around him through the haze._

_A snort came from behind 'Harry' as well as the soft sound of the whip being laid on a table for a servant to clean later, the man not caring at all for the teen lying on the stone floor covered in and surrounded by his own blood. Then came the sound of one of the room's doors opening, most likely the servants' door._

_"Finished already Severus?" a male voice - which 'Harry' knew was definitely_ not _his master's - asked, mocking and what seemed to be disappointment in the tone._

 _"Yes, it would seem so." That voice he knew,_ that _was his master. "A shame really, however it seems his body is not strong enough, even now, for anything too intense; it never has been," he added under his breath.  
_

_"Ah," the other man hummed. "What will you do with him now?"_

_There was the sound of clothing rustling as his master presumably shrugged before replying simply, "Leave him."_

_A breath was indrawn sharply before there was nothing but silence for a moment. The unknown man asked in a soft voice, "You leave him? Without treatment of any kind those will become infected - the boy could die!"_

_Master snorted. "The boy won't die, not that I would particularly care is he did. In a week or so when the infection has set in someone will beg for me to call a healer or arrange for a healer to come see to the boy with the idea that I won't notice. In about two weeks the boy will be back, good as new," he said. "It's not as if I've never done this to him before after all; I know what it is that I'm doing."_

_Silence again. "You whip the boy on a regular enough basis that you know how he will heal each time? I knew you were hard on your servants Severus, however not this bad. What did the poor boy ever do to you?"_

_"Personally? The boy has not done anything himself, however he is Potter's son. That is reason enough in my mind, and has been for years now."_

_"That is . . . sick," the stranger said after a moment. "Potter and his wife are your servants as well Sev, punish them, not an innocent boy. From what I have heard they do not care what happens to the boy anyway," he added, his voice sounding a bit strained. "How old is the boy now anyway?"  
_

_"Perhaps," master replied. "The boy is nearly sixteen, his choosing ceremony will be within the next two months. As long as he does not return here, this will be his last . . . session. As for Potter and his wife, after the boy leaves perhaps I will take up them in his place. In the beginning it was simply an effort to punish the couple for what they have put me through, however having discovered that they care nothing for the boy, it is simply something that gives me slight amusement, our little sessions."_

_"You truly are sick," the other man snarled. "To do this - and Merlin and Morgana know what else! - and to a child of all things! Potter and his wife I could understand, but Severus, really? How can you live with yourself knowing what you've done? What you're_ doing _?"_

_Master chuckled darkly. "There are many things I must live with," he replied. "Things worse than punishing this boy for actions his parents committed and blamed him for; there will be no weight on my mind or conscience for my actions here."_

_"I - I can't just let this go on," the other man said softly, sounding hurried and panicked now. "I must tell our Lord, you know I must Severus, I can't just keep quiet when you are_ torturing _children! Servant or not!"_

_"I'm sorry Lucius my friend, however, I cannot allow you to do that. Obliviate!"_

/break/

As I lay there awake in the early hours of the morning, the sun not yet having begun to rise, continuing to run over the memories in my head I remembered that my last thought that night - for it was a night that particular _session_ had occurred on - before falling completely unconscious, was that if I could somehow get this Lucius man to remember, I could get away from my master and supposed parents. Having now met the man and told him of my past, I wondered whether he had remember anything of that night, or if he continued to remember nothing but what my master had told him.

/break/

_Now little three-year-old 'Harry' sat in the dirt digging a small hole with his hands behind one of the buildings on the manor grounds alone, knowing even at such a young age that there would be no one looking for him for any reason, or caring at all that he was gone. The only person who was even slightly kind to him was the manor's head cook, Mrs. Weasley ***** who would sometimes - when she wasn't too busy - sneak him bits of day old bread and tend to the scratches and cuts as well as the bruises he acquired from time spent with his master or, more often, his parents. It was nearing supper time now though, and he knew that Mrs. Weasley was very busy, too busy to pay him any mind at least.  
_

_As he continued his digging the boy made a soft noise of joy and surprise as he pulled a small stone out, filling with pride at his find. As he held the stone in the palm of his hand he watched in awe as it began to shift and change, the rough dark brown/grey stone became smooth and turned a bright white/light grey color, shimmering in the sun. 'Harry' picked out little flecks of different colors in the stone._

_"Wow," he whispered, entranced by the sparkly/shimmery effect._

_He pulled a piece of cloth from the pocket of his old, ragged, patched-up pants and laid it out on the ground before carefully placing the stone in the center and turning back to his small hole, digging around for another stone determinedly, his tiny pink tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. It took a few moments, but at last he pulled out a small grey stone about the size of a peanut and watched as it became a bright green color and slightly see-through, the green very similar to the color of his eyes._

_'Harry' placed the small green stone with the white one and stared at them in contemplation._

_"If I keep them and some sees, they will think that I have stolen them," he whispered to himself, barely audible. "Maybe if I . . . "_

_The small boy quickly shifted to his knees and wrapped the two stone in the cloth they laid upon before placing it in the hole they had come from and covering it over with dirt, smoothing it over so that it looked - to his sight - as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place there._

_"I won't tell nobody," he said. "They will stay here til I need them and I won't tell nobody about them never." He nodded to himself decidedly and stood up, rubbing his dirty hands on his pants as he began to walk back to the manor._

/break/

_A tall man with a man of frizzy brown hair streaked through with grey sneered down at the man kneeling at his bare feet._

_The man on his knees kept his head down as he spoke, doing his best to keep as meek in appearance as possible in the hope that the man sitting on the large throne-like chair before him would be lenient with him when he finished._

_"The heir of the elves and faeries has been found Alpha, sir. He was returned to his family and now stands to inherit after his marriage. He soon approaches the age where it will be possible to happen, my lord. His seventeenth will be within a matter of months, and it has been heard that a marriage is being arranged in order to ally the elves and faeries with the wizards," the kneeling man said quickly._

_The man on the throne snarled, his eyes flashing a golden yellow color in his anger. "This cannot be allowed, all of them cannot ally themselves against us!" he growled out. "The union must be prevented at all costs, even if we must wipe out the entire line to do so!" He turned to the line of men at his right and snapped, "Prepare anyone able to move and fight, we have no time to waist now."_

_The men ran to do as ordered._

/break/

Those were memories, all of which I remembered, the last dream though . . . I didn't understand. Or, perhaps a better way of putting that would be that I understood what was happening, but I wasn't sure if what occurred was real. To my knowledge I was no seer, perhaps at one point when I was very young I was able to change common stones into gems, however I was still not a seer. I had never seen the future - in my dreams or otherwise - but . . . it just seemed so, so _real_.

Whether it was just my overactive imagination or not, I would tell someone, my parents or even Tia. Maybe Tia would be able to tell me whether what I'd seen was a vision or not.

If it was a vision . . . I didn't know what would happen, only that someone was going to attack my family. _That_ , I could not allow to happen if there was any way I could stop it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * - Molly and Arthur, being supporters of Dumbledore, were separated and became servants just like everyone else, their children however - I think I might have already mentioned - were given the choice as purebloods to leave their parents and grow up as lower-class purebloods, which they all did. At the moment Bill, who is about 25/26, is Lord Weasley. The younger Weasleys - Ginny was newly born when the Dark Lord took power and Ron the same age as Harry with the twins only 2 years older - were deemed unable to make the choice and taken from their parents, they grew up the same as their older siblings. Also, Molly didn't really know the Potters very well and did her best to take care of their son, being the person who would normally go to Severus about getting a healer. Arthur however, is one of the Malfoys' servants, the feud between the families came to an end with Bill making his peace with Lucius and Arthur in service to the family.


	11. Elsewhere

Malfoy Manor

It had taken Lucius Malfoy weeks, a handful of months really, to fully puzzle out the fuzzy flashes of that would appear to have been memory into anything distinguishable, and even longer to make sense of them all after the young Harry Potter left his manor. Almost a year after the boy had left his life, just as quickly as he had appeared, everything—to Lucius' horror and disgust—made perfect sense. Lucius sat in his office at Malfoy Manor and thought back over everything he had remembered.

_He had gone to Prince Manor, the home of Severus Prince ne Snape (he had changed his name as quickly as possible when he left his abusive father, his mother having been beaten to death years before) in the hopes of having a chat with his friend over rumors that had been leaked back to him at the Ministry._

_The moment he flooed into the manor he was met by a young servant girl, perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age, yet not far from her Choosing ceremony. He asked where he might find the Lord of the Manor and was led through the manor to a room where he could clearly hear his old friend's voice._

_"My Lord is inside Minister," the girl informed him with a careful curtsey, while also keeping her eyes politely lowered. "Is there anything else you require my Lord?"_

_"No thank you," he had replied, moving to open the door. "That will be all for now," he added as he turned to enter the room, the girl's soft footsteps receding down the hall as he did._

_Lucius swallowed as he entered the room, already knowing that the rumors were true from the sounds and Severus' words coming from inside. Closing the door behind him he paused to take in the scene before him, forcing himself to remain calm._

_A boy who looked to be only just shy of his Choosing lay face down on the floor covered in blood, obviously coming from the welts all over his horrifyingly thin body as well as from the numerous marks upon his face and dribbling from the corners of mouth, his black hair was matted with partially dried blood and fanned around his face on the stone floor. Lucius could just make out the uneven rising and falling of the boys' chest as he struggled to breath, his eyes closed with his loss of consciousness._

_"Finished already Severus?" he managed to ask in a normal voice as he looked at his friend on the other side of the room who was only just laying down a bloodied whip._

_Severus turned his attention toward him and replied carelessly, "Yes, it would seem so." There was no sense of remorse in his voice, in fact there was no joy in it either, if anything the man sounded bored. "A shame really," he continued, with what seemed almost to be longing, "however it seems his body is not strong enough, even now, for anything too intense; it never has been," he added under his breath with just the slightest scowl appearing on his face before it returned to its usual neutral expression._

_"Ah," Lucius hummed, seemingly thoughtful and pretending to have not heard the end of Severus' statement while his mind whirled at the fact that this type of treatment seemed to have been happening for years if Severus' words spoke true. "What will you do with him now?" he asked, raising one white-blonde eyebrow._

_Severus shrugged before replying simply, "Leave him."_

_Inhaling sharply Lucius quickly hid his shock behind an expressionless mask and released the breath slowly, gathering his thoughts. "You leave him?" he asked in a quiet, forcedly calm voice. "Without treatment of any kind those will become infected—the boy could die!" he forced out, revealing only the leading edge of his anger and revulsion._

_With a careless snort, Severus replied with a sneer, "The boy won't die, not that I would particularly care if he did. In a week or so when the infect has set in someone will beg for me to call a healer or arrange for a healer to come see to the boy with the idea that I won't notice," he began to explain as he wiped his hands clean of splattered blood in a basin of water before drying them with one of the cloths placed beside it. "In about two weeks the boy will be back good as new," he continued. "It's not as if I've never done this to him before after all; I know what it is I'm doing," he added to Lucius disgust, which was written obviously on his face for his friend to see, Lucius making no move to hide it._

_"You whip the boy on a regular enough basis that you know how he will heal each time?" he asked, silently seething on the boy's behalf. So this type of treatment had been going on for years, Severus himself confirming it with his nonchalant explanation of what would happen to the boy for experience. "I knew you were hard on your servants Severus, however not this bad. What did the poor boy ever do to you?"_

_Severus raised an eyebrow at him imperiously. "Personally? The boy has not done anything himself, however he is Potter's son. That is reason enough in my mind, and has been for years now."_

_"That is . . . sick. Potter and his wife are your servants as well Sev, punish them, not an innocent boy. From what I have heard they do not care what happens to the boy anyway," he added with a sneer, knowing that the elder Potters cared nothing for their only son, who he knew to now be the boy lying bleeding out on the cold stone floor unconsciously. "How old is the boy now anyway?"_

_"Perhaps," Severus replied without caring, obviously not taking Lucius' words into consideration. "The boy is nearly sixteen," he continued, "his choosing ceremony will be within the next two months. As long as he does not return here, this will be his last . . . session. As for Potter and his wife, after the boy leaves perhaps I will take up them in his place. In the beginning it was simply an effort to punish the couple for what they have put me through, however having discovered that they care nothing for the boy, it is simply something that gives me slight amusement, our little sessions."_

_Slight amusement? He was taking the boy's parents' disregard for his safety as permission to torture the boy? This went beyond what the rumors had been . . . or perhaps it wasn't, there had been talk of repeated abuse of certain servants who had no one around to care for and save them._ Was the Potter boy not the only servant suffering such abuse? _He wondered silently._

 _"You truly are sick," Lucius spat at his friend no longer able to control himself, with an icy glare in addition to the sneer still on his lips. "To do this—and Merlin and Morgana know what else!—and to a child of all things! Potter and his wife I could understand, but Severus, really? How can you live with yourself knowing what you've done? What you're_ doing _?"_

_A slow smile appeared on his friend's face, a sick, twisted parody of a smile that caused a shudder to wrack Lucius' body as he chuckled darkly. "There are many things I must live with. Things worse than punishing this boy for the actions his parents committed and blamed him for; there will be no weight on my mind for my actions here," he said, still with that terrifying smile on his face as he slowly crossed the room, being careful to move around the bloodied form still lying still on the floor as well as the blood spreading and splattered about him as he made his way to his friend._

_Lucius swallowed hard. "I—I can't just let this go one," he said softly, thinking of all of the times he had covered up his friend's mistakes and knowing this was just too much. "I must tell our Lord, you know I must Severus, I can't just keep quiet when you are_ torturing _children. Servant or not!"_

_Severus continued forward and only too late did Lucius notice the wand that had appeared in his friend's hand as his friend spoke. "I'm sorry Lucius my friend, however, I cannot allow you to do that." He raised his wand and, still smiling, spoke the spell that ended the memory and in the end would be the reason he would lose everything now, "Obliviate!"_

Lucius rubbed his eyes tiredly as he finished running the memory through in his mind before standing and moving to the side of the office where a basin-looking object sat on a stand and was filled with what appeared as misty blue swirls—memories. He placed the tip of his wand to his temple and pulled the memory free, allowing it to fall into the pensieve.

He took a slow step back, still staring at the memories, before turning away and moving to the floo. Throwing in a pinch of floo powder he called out as he knelt, "Riddle Manor!"

"Yes Lucius?" a smooth, rich voice answered.

"My Lord, there is something incredibly important you must be made aware of. Could I come through so we might speak?"

"Of course Lucius. In fact, there is something rather important that I needed to discuss with you also, as well as a couple of others."

* C * L *

Later Slytherin Manor

Rabastan and Rodolphus patiently awaited their Lord in one of the sitting rooms of Slytherin Manor, they had come with the findings of their research into the life of one Harry Potter, or rather Írdir son of Mírdaer and Leanne, the son and true heir of the King and Queen of the joint Elvin and Faerie society. Their Lord needed to know who had been living under their noses for all of these years and who it was that had caused it as well as his mistreatment in their hands - i.e. the Potters and Dumbledore, only two of which were still alive to be punished for their actions . . . unfortunately.

The door leading out into the corridor opened and the brothers immediately stood, bowing to their Lord who was followed inside by Lucius Malfoy who closed the door behind him.

The Dark Lord was not what many people expected when they first meet him, he was tall and looked only about half of his true age - maybe late twenties rather than nearly sixty - and he had thick, dark, curly hair, as well as dark eyes in a pale face. He also had an air about him that was almost innocent and very drawing to the person, something that had been very helpful in his rise to power and gaining information from those who underestimated him. While not necessarily a kind man, the Dark Lord was fair and with those Death Eaters of highest rank, including the Lestrange and Malfoy families, he was more open than with any others using his dry sarcasm and wit often.

"My Lord, Lucius," the brothers greeted together as they straightened up.

The Dark Lord nodded his head in acknowledgement of the greeting; "Rabastan, Rodolphus," Lucius replied.

"Please sit," their Lord invited, his voice deep and smooth. When all four men had each taken a seat the Dark Lord asked, "Now, the pair of you wished to meet? I believe you said that there was something important I needed to be informed of," he added, raising one dark eyebrow.

"Yes my Lord," Rabastan replied, glancing over at his older brother as he spoke. "I believe that you knew, both yourself and Lucius, that Rodolphus and I had taken a certain . . . interest if you will, in a young man who went - at first - by the name of Harry Potter, and later as a courtesan by the name Fay."

"I did," their Lord confirmed with a nod that was echoed by Lucius.

Rabastan nodded and continued, "The pair of us felt such a draw to him that we wondered if he had some type of creature ancestry, so we decided to . . . do some research on him and his family." He looked to his brother who nodded and continued where he left off.

"During our research we uncovered a few rather interesting facts," Rodolphus went on. "One such fact being that Harry himself, is not actually the son biological or otherwise of either James or Lily Potter, in fact he is actually the lost heir of King Mírdaer and Queen Leanne. He has since been returned to his family thankfully, however the fact that Dumbledore and the Potters were able to take the heir of the combined Fae and Elvin kingdom and hide him away under our very noses as a servant for all these years . . ." he trailed off allowing the other two men to make the connection of how that would look to the elves and faeries.

"We wished to give you the information we've learned in the hopes of preparing you should their Majesties contact you," Rabastan explained.

The Dark Lord and Lucius exchanged a glance, seeming to hold a conversation silently with facial expressions, nods, and shakes of the head before finally returning their attention back to the brothers.

"As a matter of fact," the Dark Lord said slowly, thoughtfully as he pulled a roll of thick parchment, the elaborate deep violet wax seal already broken, from a pocket of his robes, "Their Majesties have already contacted us. Not for the reasons you would think however," he added as he unrolled the parchment.

"My Lord?" Rabastan asked, his forehead creasing with his confusion.

The Dark Lord nodded, his eyes focused on the writing of the parchment. "I believe you were all aware of their Majesties considering a marriage to ally our societies, correct?" he asked, looking from the Lestrange brothers to Lucius who looked a bit surprised at his inclusion in the conversation. All three nodded in reply and the Dark Lord continued, "Originally it was discussed that their first child would be betrothed to a witch or wizard in order to form an alliance, however with the heir's kidnapping the betrothal would go to the second child. However, with the recovery of their heir, a marriage has now been requested for him - your Fay, as he has continued to be called by request if word is to be believed - by their Majesties." The Dark Lord's eyes gazed intently from one brother to the other, seemingly waiting for some type of realization, or at the very least a reaction. He rolled his eyes in exasperation at their continued blank expressions. "They have sent their heir's request for mates," he hinted dryly with a raised eyebrow.

"Request, my Lord?" Rodolphus asked at the same time his brother asked, "Mates? As in more than one?"

"Yes, he made a request for two wizards, two specific wizards that is, for his mates," the Dark Lord replied, nodding as he read over a particular portion of the letter casually.

"And who," Rabastan began to ask, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat, tongue darting out to wet his lips quickly, before continuing carefully, "Which of us has the heir requested my Lord?"

"Hm, yes, well, it would seem he has requested the two of you oddly enough."

The Lestrange brothers stared at him blankly once again causing the Dark Lord to release a long, put-upon sigh as he and Lucius shared a look each rolling their eyes in exasperation. "Who else in our world does he know well enough, and is fond enough of after his past here under Severus," he sneered the name of his - previously - favored potions master followed by a pause before continuing, "and the Potters, to request as his mates?" the Dark Lord asked, resisting the strong urge to sigh as he did so. "From what I have heard you made quite the impression upon one another as well, he certainly made a great impression upon you from the way you've spoken of him and acted whenever he has been mentioned."

The twin absolutely smitten looks in the brothers' eyes said everything without either speaking a word.

"I will take that as acceptance," the Dark Lord stated with a single nod of his head. He looked back to the parchment as he continued, "Their Majesties have arranged for the annulment of Rodolphus and Bellatrix's marriage - with the agreement of both parties they've written. That should clear any true difficulties, however should others arise they shall be dealt with. As for other details, everything will be arranged with our reply of acceptance. The two of you and the heir will meet with their Majesties and all other necessary officials to work out all details regarding your marriage, or bonding rather as that is what it shall truly be when you are tied together, the marriage simply being symbolic in the case of the Elven-Faerie society and purely for our own." He raised his eyes to the stunned Lestrange brothers with a raised eyebrow. "Do either of you have any questions?" he asked.

"No my Lord," Rabastan quickly replied. "No questions . . . or rather, possibly one," he admitted, trailing off uncertainly.

A dark eyebrow was raised. "Which would be?"

Rabastan and Rodolphus exchanged a glance before Rabastan replied slowly, choosing his words with care, "What will happen now? When will everything begin to happen now that we've been told?" he asked.

"Events will take place rapidly as soon as our reply of acceptance is sent to their Majesties," oddly enough it was Lucius to give the reply. Of course when it came to matters of state as this certainly did, Lucius was the person who would know best so it shouldn't have been that surprising. "Their Majesties wish for this bonding to occur as swiftly as possible, therefore within the next week or so representatives will be sent to straighten out your divorce Rodolphus and soon after you will be collected and brought to their palace. From there I cannot tell you what exactly will occur, they must tell you that themselves," he finished, sitting back in his chair once more.

The Dark Lord looked at the brothers thoughtfully. "You should set your affairs in order I should think," he stated. "We do not know when you will be leaving us, thus it would do you well to prepare should your departure be immediate."

Rodolphus nodded. "I agree," he said, getting to his feet and waiting for his brother to do the same before facing the Dark Lord. "If you would excuse us my Lord." At the nod they received the brothers moved to the floo, each calling out "Lestrange Manor!" before disappearing from sight.

"Now Lucius." Lucius turned at the Dark Lord's words. "What was it you came to inform me of my friend?"

"Well my Lord, as you know Severus, after the fall of the Order brought into his service at Prince Manor the Lord and Lady Potter as well as the young boy who was assumed to have been their son," Lucius began. At his Lord's nod he continued, "Well, over a year ago now, possibly two, I began hearing some . . . talk about Severus' treatment of his servants. I realize that most treat their servants as far below themselves, I understand that and can relate as I do the same with my own servants, however the talk of beatings and torture brought me pause. I didn't wish to believe these rumors, however I felt it my duty to figure once and for all whether there was any truth to the rumors, so one day I made a spur of the moment trip out to Prince Manor and . . . " Lucius trailed off, his voice sounding slightly choked.

The Dark Lord leaned forward intently. "What did you find Lucius?"

"He . . . he was whipping a boy, a boy the same age as my own son - fifteen at the time," Lucius went on, having forced himself to calm once more but avoiding his Lord's eyes. "When he finished he just left the boy there on the cold stone floor saying only that when the infection set in weeks later after the boy would drag himself from the room someone would be sure to arrange for treatment behind his back." Lucius lifted his head to stare straight at the Dark Lord. "Then, when I told him that I couldn't just leave and keep my silence, that I had no choice but to inform you he attacked and obliviated me. Only just today did the full memory of the day return to me after months of bits and pieces." He paused. "The boy he had been beating was believed to be the Potters' son, tortured for doings that were not his own, which were not even those of his blood parents; he was the Fae and Elvin heir, the boy Rabastan and Rodolphus have just agreed to bond to," he finished.

Eyes blazing with fury, not just at the fact the recently rediscovered heir had been the boy being beaten, but after his own childhood of torment the idea of any child being beaten or punished for something they had no control over or association to at all infuriated the Dark Lord. This along with what the Lestrange brothers had spoken of pushed the Dark Lord too far. Stalking the the door leading out into the corridor the Dark Lord pulled it open and growled out to one of the guards standing there at attention, "Find Severus Prince and bring him here, immediately, along with James and Lily Potter. When you have done so I want word sent to the King and Queen stating that Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange have accepted their proposal and that their heir's tormentors and kidnappers have been found."

"Yes my Lord," the guard replied.

* C * L *

Somewhere in the North

"We are not ready to move yet sir, I apologize, however gathering men has been taxing on us all so we will need time to recuperate."

"Very well, continue gathering men, we will plan for an attack on the palace after the beginning of the year. It is believed this winter will be devastating, so we will strike while they are weak."

"Yes sir."


	12. Letters

"You highness."

I looked up from the book I had been making notes in as I read, startled, into the amused eyes of a runner of my father's. Clearing my throat, just the slightest bit embarrassed, I asked, "Yes?"

He held out thick, official-looking piece of heavy folded parchment with the seal already broken as well as a second, smaller and sealed, piece of parchment. "I was told to deliver these to you, your highness," he explained with a small bow as I took the two parchments curiously.

"Thank you . . ." I trailed off, realizing I didn't know the young boy's name.

"Noruinir, your highness," he offered with a small smile.

"Thank you Noruinir," I said, shooting a smile back at him. "Was that all then?"

"Yes your highness," he said. "If you require nothing from me, I had best return."

I nodded. "Of course."

With a final small bow the boy turned and left the room that had become my study, closing the door softly behind him and disappearing back into the maze of corridors beyond.

When the sound of his light footsteps was gone I looked down at the parchment which was now lying on my desk in front of me. Two letters, or I assumed the second was a letter by its similar appearance to the other though a much smaller size and more personal than the larger, already opened, letter.

Deciding not to draw out the suspense any longer I reached for the official letter first, figuring that if it had already been opened—likely by my father—and sent to me, then it must have been rather important.

_Your Royal Majesties_ , the letter began. I skimmed over the first portion of the letter which was nothing but pleasantries and all of the formalities which came with sending a letter to my parents in an official standing.

A good way down the page I came to what interested me:  _It is the greatest honor of the Wizarding community to send word of the acceptance by Lord Rodolphus Lestrange as well as his brother Lord Rabastan Lestrange of your proposal of marriage between the Lestrange brothers and your heir in order to unite our great societies. Those here in the Wizarding government await your response for furthering the alliance between our societies and organizing the marriage between your heir and two of our most upstanding wizarding Lords._

The letter continued with requests from the wizards regarding the marriage arrangement now that both parties had agreed as well as requesting information on how and when a meeting for ironing out the details of the marriage could take place. Then there was more official nonsense before it was signed with  _Lord T. Marvolo Slytherin_.

My breath had caught in my throat as I mechanically finished reading the letter, now that I had I blinked rapidly, unsure whether what I had read was what I had actually taken in. Slowly, my eyes slid back up the parchment and reread the letter carefully.

No. Still the same.

I laid the letter on top of my desk and reached for the smaller, unopened letter, biting my lip as I broke the seal and took in the words scripted there, not in the hand of scribe as the other letter had been, but the personal hand of the author— _or authors perhaps?_

_Dearest Little One_ , the letter began, the name bringing a rush of blood to my cheeks. I put my free hand to my face, starting slightly at the icy cold of my hand on my warm face.  _We are most honored to have been requested, by yourself if word is to be believed, as your mates. When you disappeared, to what we now know is your home and your true family, nothing was revealed in regards to why or where you had gone. Now, knowing what we do Your Highness, we could not have been more surprised at the request. We anxiously look forward to the day when we can meet you again, and hope for any agreements and arrangements that must be made will be done swiftly so our bonding—or marriage as it is being referred to here in the wizarding world—will occur as soon as possible._  It was then signed;  _With hope we will see you again soon, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange *****_

_They accepted_ , I thought feeling giddy at the very notion. I knew they had been pursuing me before I discovered who I truly am, Rabastan longer than Rodolphus, but for them to know and still desire me enough to agree to what would be a very public betrothal and marriage was mind boggling to me. The sweet words and endearments brought a flush to my cheeks as they went on a continuous loop through my mind, my fingers tapping the wood of my desktop lightly as I thought, biting my lip again.

Slowly I sat back up in my chair, my fingers slowly moving across the desk to one of the drawers which I pulled open, plucking out a blank piece of parchment from the pile there.

I wanted to write a letter in reply, but what to say and how to say it?

I didn't want to sound like a lovesick pup, so sickening sweet pet names were out, and I also didn't want to sound too formal, so beginning the letter with 'Lords Lestrange' wouldn't work either.

Sitting back in my chair with a groan of frustration I knew I was being incredibly silly about this, if they actually  _did_  care for me, they wouldn't care about how I began a little letter! I let my head fall back so I was staring at the exposed beams of the ceiling above me and coached myself to calm down and  _think_.

_Okay_ , I thought as I sat up and grabbed the goose feather quill from the open inkwell I had been using before reading the two letters.  _How about just being simple? Dear—dearest, maybe? My dear? Good enough._

My fingers curled around the length of the quill as I began to write, putting thought into each word set to parchment so as not to have to rewrite.

_My Dear Rodolphus and Rabastan_ , I wrote.  _It was a great pleasure to receive your letter, and I must say that I cannot wait to meet you both in person once more as well. I hope that all negotiations will move smoothly and swiftly so the time of our meeting might arrive more quickly. I am very sorry that you worried for me, I must admit that I worried for myself as well at times as I entered an entirely new society where the expectations of me were—and are—so great and so many. Now, I have learned to cope, to negotiate and find ways to ease the way as it were. You have my thanks for thinking of and worrying for me in a time when I knew no others who would. I am afraid I must keep this letter short, so I will end it here, though I hope to hear from you again very soon if not see and speak with you in person. Yours, Fay_

It wasn't perfect, and a bit scrambled—I was getting there with writing but not where I'd have liked to be just yet—but it had a bit of character to it and seemed, while a bit formals, to touch a good number of the things I wished to say. Though it was a bit formal, I thought it was warranted in that we knew very little of one another outside of what was known by most and what had been said during our few meetings.

Pleased despite its imperfection, I allowed the ink to dry while feeling a bit impatient, before folding the parchment and dripping on purple wax I had been instructed to use 'for all correspondence from now until the day you die' which was perhaps somewhat dramatic on the part of the supply master who had said it, but I didn't allow it to bother me. I pressed the intricately carved ring on my finger's design into the quickly drying wax and allowed it to fully settle before standing, fully intent on sending the letter out as soon as possible.

I left my study with a small smile on my face, headed in the direction of the palace owlery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure why this was so hard to write, but I wrote this one chapter about a dozen times this month and still wasn't happy with it. Finally I ended up just putting all the versions together into this which is better than they were separately. Believe me. I didn't want to put something out there I wasn't happy with, so that plus doing NaNoWriMo last month made for a long break between chapters. I'm so sorry about that!
> 
> I hope you like this despite its shortness! Thank you for reading!
> 
> * I don't know if anyone reading this has ever seen the movie A Knight's Tale, but in the movie there is a part when a character says a line about how "love should end with hope" and . . . well. It was sweet, and I thought fitting for the moment.


	13. Authors Note

I'm not exactly sure why I neglected to post this note sooner, but I did and for that I'm sorry.  The reason for it, and my long break from _Courting Life_ , is because after a long time of thinking I decided that I just was not happy with the way I had allowed the story to progress.  That being said, I decided that rather than try to continue writing something I was already unhappy with, I would rewrite the story entirely.  Over these last months I have been developing a story which I am much happier with, and will be proud to post when the time comes.

I hope that all of you who have followed and waited for a new chapter can forgive me.  And I really, truly hope that you will like what I post in the future just as much, if not more, than _Courting Life_ as it now stands.


End file.
